


Harley Dreams

by mynameislizzie2



Category: Skins (UK)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-02-12 13:26:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 74,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12960192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mynameislizzie2/pseuds/mynameislizzie2
Summary: Started off as 'Girl on a Motorcycle' and morphed into something else. Naomi Cambell as an Australian biker chick looking for adventure. Emily turns out to be that adventure, but as on the highway west, there are bumps in the road and sharp bends everywhere. Effy? Well, she's Effy.





	1. One

Naomi.

The blonde girl stamped a layer of thin ochre dust off her scuffed black boots and tied her long hair back with a thick rubber band before scrunching it up as she levered the black modular faced crash helmet over her head (she'd started off with an open faced helmet back in her home town, but picking flies out of her teeth after a long run wasn't fun so she'd ditched it at the first bike accessory shop she'd found). She flipped the black tinted front up and smiled thinly to herself. Time to kick the fine dust of this identikit shitty town off her boots altogether, she thought.

She pulled on her black leather riding gloves and slipped a chunky key into the ignition of the bike beneath her. Her bike....the bike she had scrimped, saved and sometimes even stolen for. 2 years it had taken her. During school, college, part time jobs, waitressing, washing cars, selling the odd (OK, quite a few) bags of weed...whatever it took to push another $20 note into the piggy bank. Now, the results of all that saving, going without. All that missing out on wild student parties and raucous clubs and well....fun, had paid off eventually.

It might be a bit dusty...it might be a bit scuffed in places now... like her leather boots . But the hulking Harley Davidson Road King Classic she was sitting on was the lover she could never leave, never say goodbye to. It didn't complain if she treated it roughly, never let her down when she needed it and always gave satisfaction. Turning the switch and touching the start button instantly produced the familiar trademark deep rumble below her. The massive V twin engine pulsed like a muscular, metronomic heartbeat, ready for action at the twist of a throttle. She smiled again to herself. The open road stretched away before her like an ever changing, seductive mistress. It was the machines natural element and hers too, for the past few weeks at least.

She took one last dismissive look round the dusty little one horse town she’d stopped at last night, before giving the throttle a generous twist to clear the engine's throat. The machine roared enthusiastically beneath her, making the wide seat vibrate and setting off a not entirely unpleasant reciprocal throb between her legs.

Last night had been...well...interesting. Not the sort of interesting that would make her think about breaking her journey for more than one night...but interesting nevertheless.

The voluptuous dark haired, crimson lipped waitress who served her in the combination roadside diner cum hostel last night had been nice enough. In her early thirties maybe? Wearing a tight blue two piece cotton uniform with the top three buttons open...enough to show off that impressive creamy cleavage. When the woman had bent over to pour more strong coffee into the blondes cup after dinner, she'd smiled knowingly when the girl looked steadily at the delicious swell of her full tits. Usually no doubt it was grizzled road train drivers and hopeful sales reps leering at her breasts, suggesting improbable liaisons with their eyes. But this slim, attractive blonde with the tight blue jeans, biker boots and Brando style leather studded jacket was an uncommon but welcome admirer it seemed. 

Maria...was that was her name? The blonde remembered little but the feel of that pneumatic body pressed against her. Curvy, compliant and very, very wet....between her legs... once the girl had slipped an enquiring hand down that tight uniform skirt and inside flimsy knickers. Wet and very willing, as it turned out. There was no time for more than a frantic mutual finger fuck against the back wall of the diner, while the cook flipped burgers in the kitchen. Brief maybe, but very satisfying Mouths locked together to suppress the desperate, greedy moans they shared. Hands moving quickly and efficiently beneath partially removed clothing. By the way the woman had gasped desperately and bitten down on the girls neck as she came, the blonde guessed this was a rare if welcome treat for the older woman. Not many attractive young lesbians visit this town then, she thought wryly as she buttoned up her 501’s and left the woman panting against the concrete wall

Neither wanted more from the other than instant mutual gratification, so there were no promises to return for more fun, no furtive phone numbers exchanged. Just two horny women, a convenient quiet spot and a lot of hot and heavy making out. The girl sucked her fingers afterwards appreciatively. Sweet, she thought. Sweet.

This breakfast time, they’d only smiled briefly at each other as the blonde ate her pancakes and bacon. Nothing more. Because today, in the cold light of an outback morning, there was apparently a husband too. Funny how the blonde hadn't noticed the wedding ring on the woman's finger, but then that hand had been quite busy...elsewhere, hadn’t it? 

The bearded florid guy fussed over the popping eggs and sausages on the griddle, cursing the busy waitresses to be even quicker at serving the customers. More people all round the small diner now. The dusty, foul mouthed freight drivers and crumpled sales reps, all stopping for a fix of caffeine and trans fat protein before pointing their dust streaked rigs and corporate compacts on down the highway. 

The girl had more time to linger than they did this morning, and she exchanged another sly smile with the flustered brunette as she poured a last cup of coffee for her. Marie’s uniform was buttoned up to the neck today, she noticed. The creamy twin treats tucked safely away, maybe until tonight when the neon lights of the restaurant would glow brightly again in the cool evening air, hopefully attracting more hungry travellers to spend another dollar while enjoying the pleasant view. 

This mornings customers were more interested in the food than the pretty service, however tempting. Daylight brings harsh reality after all.

The girl recalled again how the sexy brunette had gasped and clenched on her fingers last night with a delicious shudder. She wriggled slightly in her seat, her body reliving the nimble, knowing fingers moving on her.... inside her. Not a beginner for sure. Another bored, hick town housewife, living out half remembered college passion with other girls....girls like her. Last night would probably tide her over for a few weeks. Weeks of lying under a sweating, hairy man, daydreaming about lithe blondes with clever fingertips.

Soon enough, coffee drunk, the bill paid and her heavy padded jacket slung over a slim shoulder, the blonde left the diner with just a brief backward glance at the busy waitress. The tiny and cautious wiggle of the woman's fingers in farewell the only sign of what had passed between them. No regrets on either side then.

Now, with the engine thumping impatiently underneath her, the girl pulled the strap on the helmet tight under her chin. Falling off the bike in the outback wasn't advisable at any time, falling off with an insecure helmet would be fatal. She reached down and ran the diagonal heavy duty zip of her leather jacket upward to her neckline and looked behind her once more at the diner, before snicking the brushed alloy of the gear lever down with her booted foot. The metallic clunk of the gearbox told her it was time to go. She had two Harley branded studded leather panniers full of her meagre personal stuff mounted behind her and the heavy duty waterproof satnav glowed blue/green above the bikes instruments. The highway relentlessly calling her. Time to go.

The big Harley burbled out onto the featureless black tarmac stretching maybe a hundred miles out in front of her. Another day's riding...another town, another adventure maybe? It was what she had sacrificed all that fun for in the past two years.

She was young, beautiful and free of responsibility to anyone but herself. A credit card with a thousand dollar limit on it, two hundred more in cash tucked inside her left boot. No family, apart from a mad mother, no friends apart from the bike itself and.... the open road, the best friend of all. Ahead lay the unknown. What she’d always craved.

Naomi Campbell, 19 years 3 months and 10 days old, crouched a bit lower over the wide handle bars as the powerful machine picked up speed rapidly, scattering feeding birds from the roadside. Soon she was just a small black dot on the horizon, the sun shimmering brightly over the far away hills.

XXX

Three weeks earlier.

“Naomi!....the courier is here love....do you want me to sign for this package?”

Naomi groaned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. It was already afternoon, judging by the temperature and the strength of the sun through her bedroom window. Her stomach roiled as lasts nights endless lagers competed with her blinding headache to make her throw up. It had been a bad idea when it was suggested, and it felt an even worse one now. “Just a drink with your workmates....we can't let you go walkabout without a send off can we girl?” It all sounded so reasonable at the time.

Reluctantly, but with growing enthusiasm as the beers and occasional spliff tempered her normal tendency to stay aloof from horseplay and forced camaraderie of the supermarket staff, she partied late into the night. 9 months she'd slaved there, stacking shelves, working the till, the last in a long line of dead end jobs, designed with one sole purpose in mind.

Cash.

The last payment made on her gleaming Harley and a final push for her 'adventure savings' as her mother lamely named the stupid pig money box on her window sill. A$600 was in there and she used most of it to buy a decent set of tight leathers (the trousers were in the capacious side panniers strapped to the bike) Too hot to wear on the first bit of the journey at least. Later, when she got further into the bush and the nights were colder, she would be glad of them.

But now, suffering from a hangover so dense you could make soup out of it, she just groaned again at her mothers cheerful stridency. Gina Campbell could be upbeat in the face of an imminent firing squad. Normally, her mothers sunny personality was merely irritating, but right now in the grip of mild alcohol poisoning, it brought out the blondes murderous side.

“Fuck OFF!” she yelled hoarsely, then instantly regretted the effort it had taken. Her head throbbed and she sank back onto the pillows while groping for the glass of water she had poured before collapsing on the bed last night, after Scott and Jen had dropped her off. Actually more tipped her onto the verandah really. After the ninth tin of something amber and gassy, she wasn't sure what had happened. The night was reduced to a kaleidoscope of happy smiling faces, slaps on the back and always yet another fizzing glass of beer. She chanced a look round the bedroom, groaning at the movement of her eyeballs in their sockets. Two years of solitary isolation, going out no more than once a fortnight, and then only if the night was cheap and cheerful, had turned her into a lightweight when it came to alcohol. But the reason for the abstinence was standing under the car port, next to her mothers small Ford. Big, beautiful and covered in chrome and deep jet paint. Her new best friend. 

Today was the day. She'd promised herself she would set off by 12, but that was fucked by the look of the bedroom. Clothes still scattered around, not yet packed. Oh well, 2pm then...

She took a deep breath and raised the courage to lift her head off the pillow as she heard her mother chatting aimlessly with the delivery guy. It was the last of the packages she was expecting. A pair of black Ray-Ban Aviators. The final piece of carefully constructed machismo she wanted to portray. She was done with this small parochial town, with its narrow views and drudgery. Her mother had given up her hippy dream years ago, but Naomi was determined not to be like her in any way. Two years of saving and going without was to give her this...freedom. The Harley, enough cash to cover a 1000 mile journey and the outfit to suit her new persona.

No more nice Naomi. No more getting her heart broken by pretty little straight girls who just wanted a fling with another girl before settling down to domestic bliss with some fucking sheep farmer or local mechanic. No ma'am...she wasn't falling for that shit any more.

Too many times she'd thought she'd found 'the one'. Too many times, after a month of breathless passion and secret meetings, she ended up watching the object of her affection wave goodbye from the passenger seat of a pick-up, the grinning driver of which would be the reason for her heartache.

Being gay in Australia wasn't easy in the best of circumstances. Maybe in Melbourne, or Sydney, things might have been different. But here, in Inverleigh, this suburban shithole she was brought up in, she stood out like a swish rainbow cocktail in a row of blue tinnies. 'The queer one'.... 'the beaver buffer'....'Little miss sensible shoes', she'd suffered them all, and worse.

At least her mother was cool about her daughters sexuality. Once Gina had discovered the adolescent Naomi was into other girls instead of school jocks, she had accepted it as if it was all too obvious to be mentioned. Naomi never had trouble bringing girls home. Even banging them occasionally on her double bed. In some ways, her mother was a bit too fucking accommodating. Being brought breakfast in bed wasn't something Naomi minded, but it could be a bit awkward when a pillow princess was currently head down between her legs, learning her trade....

So when Naomi had brought up the subject of going on a long road trip, Gina had been all for it.

“Go out and find yourself honey” she crooned “Discover new things, new places...new people. There's someone out there just for you....someone beautiful”

Naomi suspected her mothers enthusiasm was part built on her own thwarted teenage dreams, but whatever...she'd chipped in with the odd $50 when she could, to build the escape fund. Every little helped.

Swallowing two painkillers with the luke warm water, Naomi braced herself for the inevitable parental post mortem on her farewell night out. She wasn't, no fuck that, she definitely wasn’t in the mood for her mothers particular brand of chirpy morning (or afternoon) humour. But in an hour or so, she would be astride the 'beast' and all this would be behind her. No friends to miss, no sweetheart to cry over, no regrets.

Despite her monumental hangover, today was going to be a good day…

XXX

As the bike thundered along the highway this fine sunny morning (were there any other type of mornings in Australia), she put the thoughts of Inverleigh and last nights brief passion out of her mind. The highway called.

XXX

A hundred and fifty miles to the west, another young woman was greeting the day with rather less enthusiasm than Naomi.

“Katie, you bitch!...” the girl shouted pointlessly at the bedroom door, knowing her twin was already half out of the front door anyway “...stolen my fucking top again” she mumbled to herself. 

Sighing she opened the wardrobe, looking for her second choice top. Today was going to be hot (again) and wasn’t it bad enough she was going to be late for work, but even worse, her sister had yet again ‘fixed her up’ with a friend of her latest conquest. 

A day slogging in the supermarket filling shelves, followed by an evening fending off sloppy kisses and wandering rough hands while listening to her sister eagerly servicing some guy in the front seat of a Holden was not designed to enthuse her for another boring day in her home town.

She paused as she buttoned the shirt, staring listlessly out of the window at the already cobalt blue sky….why couldn’t something exciting happen to her for a change?

XXX

You know what they say about wishes…?


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet...

Emily

“I said fucking NO Shane...how many times do you have to be told? I don’t want that ugly thing anywhere near me, let alone in my hand. Wrong twin…?”

His bleached blonde head shook in disappointment as he finally zipped himself up, defeated. He even nodded in resignation. Bad enough I was trapped on the bench front seat of this rusty green pickup with octopus armed Shane. My tits were proper sore from his constant rough grabbing and my lips held the uncomfortable memory of his clumsy attempts to kiss the face off me since we parked up. My penance for agreeing to this double date. Yeah right...some double date. A burger in the diner right next door to where I spend all day fucking stacking grocery shelves. An hour ‘watching’ a lame horror movie at the so called drive in cinema (actually the parking lot for the furniture store which gets press ganged into letting the youth of this shitty little place park up and make out while the movie plays on, unwatched by the occupants of rows of shabby second hand cars). Then the truck gets driven a mile and a half to the edge of this abandoned quarry. The ‘romantic’ view across deserted mine workings and rusty diggers is supposed to transform me from a reluctant virgin into a raging nympho, eager to shed my clothes along with my inhibitions so Shane can grunt his short way through fumbling intercourse and I can gamble with the after sex pill tomorrow.

Or not as it turns out.

My sister, of course, is a much more ‘giving’ date. Happily for me, she and Glenn her current squeeze have evacuated the car for the dubious comforts of the dunes behind us. Taking the car blanket with them. I shudder to think what delights she is currently offering from the extensive Katie Fitch menu of sexual favours. At least one of the guys will go home with a pleasant ache and a smile on his face tonight. According to various toilet walls in town (allegedly) anyway.

But poor Shane drew the short Fitch straw (no jokes please). Not quite a virgin...no female over 14 in this godforsaken dump enjoys that status. But one painful and unsatisfying screw against the graffiti covered wall behind the deli after too many Lambrini’s was enough for me to decide sex was way overrated. Well, sex with anyone else. Sex with myself is...very nice actually. Shame its the best I can do for the foreseeable future. Every time I look up from my mundane job and sterile life, I am confronted with the reality of my imminent future. Engagement to a farm hand or local shop boy. Marriage, several kids, then endless days of looking out over the flatlands of my birth, waiting for something...anything...to end the monotony. 

But at the moment, I have an ego to massage...as opposed to Shane's cock, which I have just refused for the fourth time to tug on. My resistance has obviously offended him...specially as he knows that Glenn will be approaching the crucial point by now. Katie doesn’t tease this long. 

“Look Shane...you’re a really nice guy...but I don’t...” I lie as kindly as I can manage. 

Its a long walk home after all.

He sighs heavily, looking away from me out into the velvety darkness of an Australian night.

“...put out in parked cars with guys...yeah I pretty much get that Emily” he says sullenly

Late adolescent boys not being the worlds best at putting a brave face on it, I kind of know what’s coming next.

“But...but can you do me a favour?” he continues, still not looking at me.

“I guess so...what sort of favour?” I say warily. Not the sort of favour which requires arm muscles, thats for sure. Let alone...well, lets not dwell on Katies particular skill set?

“When they get back...can you not...you know...make it so obvious we haven’t actually...” he says slowly, then performs that disgusting hand signal using a thumb and finger with another sliding in and out of the gap. The lightbulb goes on inside my head. Right...damage limitation then.

For a moment, I consider doing I...pretending that is...but I realise if I do that...let Katie and Glenn think Shane has shagged me delirious...then I might as well have gone through with it anyway, messy and unsatisfying as it would have been. The two Romeo's would be eagerly spreading the news about me...spreading...as it were, all over town tomorrow morning. Katies reputation for being the town bike is well earned and no one would be surprised that Glenn scored a touchdown. But me, the ice maiden Emily Fitch? If I let it be known that I had surrendered to my blonde ‘friend’...I would be fair game for every other priapic teenager in hicksville South Australia from here on in. No fucking thanks. Next thing you know, stories would be circulating about swapping twins...coz...you know, twins always like to do guys together, hadn’t you heard?

I shook my head as he turned to me, hope showing briefly in his eyes.

I had time to wonder again at my stupidity for agreeing to this date in the first place.

“Sorry mate...I’m not gonna lie. Its been nice...the whole date thing...but I just can’t...”

The eyes that had imitated a kicked puppy two seconds ago hardened abruptly.

“Don’t bullshit” he said sulkily “you hated every fucking minute of it...what’s wrong with you Emily...you almost never go out, only drink a couple of tinnies when you do and…?”

“And…?” I said

His mouth settled into a hard line. I should have known this was coming, but it still burned.

“..and we all know what happened at Jenny Murphy’s birthday party that time. Maybe you only put out for other girls…?”

I froze in my seat as he stared at me challengingly. That brief, enjoyable kiss with my best mate had been the only sexual contact I had ever actually enjoyed up till now, even if it was just clumsy teenage foreplay. But the resulting shit storm had all but overwhelmed me. My ‘best friend’, despite enjoying the kissing and fumbling as much as I had, proceeded to disown me and tell everyone I had jumped her when she was drunk. I got months of frozen silence from my mother and the sneering disapproval of my sister to add to the isolated misery of my last term at school. Small towns huh?

It took me several ‘dates’ and a loveless screw against cold brickwork last year to convince my family and peers that my tentative exploration of lesbianism was just adolescent experimentation. When the dust finally settled I managed, with the bare minimum of compliance, to convince everyone I was straight.

Well I am...straight that is. Short of hitching to Sydney or Melbourne...or joining a fucking circus, I’m never going to find out if that tiny glimpse of a world less than vanilla is possible, am I?

Shane must have noticed my sudden introspection, but not being the sharpest knife in in the cutlery drawer, he decided to press home his snide advantage. Small victories and all that.

“Yeah….that’ll be right...just got the wrong equipment, me?” he said spitefully “...if I had a pair of tits and a gash...I’d be right up your alley I reckon, girl…?”

The gorge rose in my throat as he stared at me, daring me to argue. I couldn’t...no wouldn’t stay in this shitty truck with this bone headed homophobic twat another second. I slapped him round the face as hard as I could, the sound of the contact shockingly loud in the confined space then scrambled clumsily out of the door. My dress caught on the door handle as I tumbled onto my knees on the sharp sand outside. I hissed in pain as the skin broke on my knee at the same time as a large portion of my new cotton dress tore off. Great, now I’ve got a split skirt the manufacturers didn’t design.

Shane hung out of the door, looking down at me scornfully as I struggled to my feet. Even in the feeble glow from the car courtesy light, I could see the livid red finger marks on his cheek. A small cheer went up inside me at that. At least he would have one souvenir from tonight to remember me by.

“Nice night for a walk then Emily...” he said coldly...”...should only take you half an hour...tell your sister and Glenn to save some energy for the walk...I’m outa here?”

The door slammed hard and I heard the engine roar as he turned the key. Part of me wished I hadn’t been quite so adamant about denying him some fun as the car spun round on the sand and thundered off, but not nearly enough to make me call out. As the truck disappeared round the trees, darkness enveloped me completely.

Its proper dark out here on the edge of the bush. Not city dark, with street lights and shops still illuminated even at midnight. No...proper dark. It wasn’t even a clear sky overhead, so no stars or moon glowed above me. Just the sighing of the water in the quarry and a few insects chirruping. I sighed myself this time. Fuck...a long and chilly walk home then.

I briefly thought about disturbing my sister, but not enough to make me want to walk through the dunes to find her. Faintly in the distance I could hear male grunting and the slap of flesh on flesh. The images in my head that produced were quite enough to prevent any thoughts of rescue. She’ll be fine...if majorly pissed off that she had to walk home after her...evening exertions. 

Nope, I thought, turning on my (luckily flat) heels and starting down the track to the road, good old Glenn would walk her home, Maybe even get a goodnight blow job on the porch for his trouble if Katie was feeling particularly generous...it was me who had the solitary fun of walking the couple of miles home on my own. The track was slowly becoming more distinct as my eyes adjusted to the gloom. A few hundred yards and I would be on the black stuff, no street lights, but a nice clear white line in the middle of the road to follow home…it could be worse, I mused as I trudged down the track

XXX

Naomi

Fuck, I thought...I should have stopped at that gas station twenty miles back. The unlit road stretched away in front of the bike uninterrupted by signs or rest stops. I just didn’t fancy another stint of avoiding leery male eyes and the odd groping hand, otherwise I would have stopped. You see, once my helmet came off, I was fair game. Most of the guys who populate isolated rest stations and rural garages were all too keen to see what I had underneath these tight leathers?

Just as well they didn’t know then, wasn’t it? Although it could be breezy on the bike at night, there was no point wearing much apart from bra and knickers underneath. And even the bra had been tucked away in my panniers last time I stopped. It had been a really warm one today, sticky and oppressive...so I showered at a truck stop with the door firmly blocked with my bag and dressed in just clean girl shorts before slipping the tight fitting jacket and trousers over them.

I miscalculated the distance I needed to travel although...well... maybe that wasn’t fair on myself actually. A major road crash between a three trailer road train and a huge tractor had pretty much totalled the whole junction fifty miles back, and the diversion had cost me over two hours.

Two hours in which I should have been tucked up in a road house bed, door locked and blocked with luggage so I didn’t get any hopeful late night callers with a six packs swinging from meaty fingers (and improbable ideas about what solitary girl bikers get up to on the road).

Anyway...I digress.

I slowed the bike momentarily to flick on the blue screen of the satnav. I keep it off at night mostly...too distracting...but I needed to find a place to stop. Petrol and sleep was required, and the first was getting urgent. 

Even though the bike was doing less than 30mph, I still only just managed to stop as a small shape appeared in front of me from nowhere...right in the middle of the fucking road. The twin steel discs squealed in protest as the Harley slowed dramatically. Fuck me sideways and call me Shirley I muttered to myself as the bike finally stopped in a cloud of road dust inches from the slim figure...its a girl.

Her face was pale and alarmed, one hand shielding her eyes from the headlight and the other held out towards me as if trying to fend off an imminent collision.

I cut the engine, which dimmed the headlight dramatically, then pulled off my helmet. She was still standing there, eyes wide (brown I think, but hard to tell in the artificial light). Pretty too...very fucking pretty, my inner demon crowed...maybe this is a lucky chance Naomi.

I shut down the voice instantly. Fucks sake Naomi, I slapped my libido across the ear, you almost ran the girl down...maybe get her name before mentally shagging her?

“I...I...” she stuttered and lowered her hand from her eyes to look at me properly. Fuck...she IS pretty, I thought...really pretty. But what the hell was she doing out here at nearly midnight, on her own in a flimsy summer dress. A dress which seems to have a big chunk missing down one side, revealing a single creamy thigh to my gaze. 

I looked up just in time to see a small smirk disappear. So she wasn’t that traumatised then... being caught checking pretty girls out is a bit of a speciality of mine, but its usually in a bar or club, not on the deserted highway miles from civilisation.

“Bit late for an evening stroll?” I said, relieved that I hadn’t managed to damage that face or body. 

“Yeah...” she said huskily, which increased my core temperature a degree or two, That smoky voice definitely didn’t belong to the cupid face and slight body. Just keeps getting better, I thought.

“Bad night?” I tried.

“You could say that” she made a small moue with her prettty lips and the Campbell thermometer went up another notch.

“Boyfriend trouble?” I chanced as the engine ticked under me. (please say no)

“Something like that...although he wasn’t my boyfriend...just a guy my sister set me up with. Turned out to be a real prince...drove off and left me to walk home when I wouldn’t drop my underwear for him...charming huh?”

I made a sympathetic face. 

“Looks like you had a lucky escape?” I gestured with my finger at the torn dress.

She looked down at the expanse of leg the tear was showing and shrugged.

“Yeah...although I can’t blame Shane for that...just me getting clumsy when I got out of the truck. Too busy congratulating myself for clocking him across the mouth?”

I grinned...feisty, I liked that.

“Can I offer a lady a lift home...or...?” I said quietly...couldn’t hurt to try, could it?

She smiled again and I swear I had a mini there. Jesus...did she have any faults?

“My mother taught me never to accept lifts from strangers...especially big bad bikers in leather?”

I laughed when her words were accompanied by another of those husky chuckles. Fuck, I could get used to hearing that.

“Easily solved” I said, smiling back “I’m Naomi...and you are…?”

“Emily...Emily Fitch” she said, holding out a small hand. I pulled off my glove and shook it. Cool smooth flesh pressed into my hand. I had a second to thank whichever saint looks out for lone motorcycle riders before squeezing her palm firmly.

“Right...well...I was looking for somewhere to stop over tonight...get some fuel...some shut eye and maybe a breakfast in the morning?...Any chance of recommending somewhere I can give you a lift to? Or do you want me to just drop you home first...either way...I’m easy?”

Yeah, right, my libido sniggered...like you really want to pass up the chance of getting to know this...Emily.

She looked at me for a long moment and I could see the cogs working. Then she shrugged again.

“Well...the night has been pretty shitty so far...maybe I’ll take a chance on you not being a murdering rapist hells angel...Nay Oh Mee...” she said, elongating my name deliberately. I chuckled at her cheek.

“Honoured, I’m sure...I haven’’t murdered anyone for...oh, weeks...and as for the rapist bit?...I usually insist on dinner at least first?” I said lightly and reached behind me into one of the big panniers on the back of the bike. Although I only had one proper helmet, I always keep a small black skid lid in the luggage, just in case I came across a stranded biker on my travels. 

Again the hoarse chuckle as I fished out the all purpose emergency helmet and held it out to her. 

“My parents have a small guest cottage...well more of a granny annexe really... in the grounds of our house? Not very luxurious, but its empty right now and I’m sure I could rustle up something basic to eat and drink? As for the dinner...that’s a maybe...if you’re good?”

Fucking hell, I thought… she’s definitely flirting with me. But it wasn’t like my last chance encounter. This was no bored housewife with an itch to scratch against a diner wall. Emily Fitch sounded as if she had a story to tell. And I was all ears…

XXX

Emily

Huddled behind the girl, sheltered from the cool night air by her warm body, I felt good for the first time since I got up this morning. I’ve never even been on a motorcycle, let alone a beast like this. My legs just barely fitted over the seat and although there was a small backrest, I made sure I gripped her waist firmly with both hands as we pulled away with a deep roar and the tarmac blurred in front of us.

Jesus, this was addictive. Not just the sensation of rocketing along the road, but the feel of her body as she leaned and twisted when we approached a bend. Truth is I was a bit disappointed when the lights of my small town appeared over her shoulder. I could have happily stayed on the bike with this mysterious Naomi for the rest of the night.

I leaned forward as we slowed at the main street (well, the only proper street) and yelled in her ear (the helmet front was propped open).

“Turn left at that supermarket...then right at the primary school...my house is a few hundred metres down there on the left...but do me a favour...cut the engine when you see the post box...my mothers anti stranger radar will wake the whole house if she hears this monster?”

I couldn’t see her grin, but I knew it would be there. Just as I asked, she cut the engine as we passed the old fashioned red box on the corner. The big bike coasted twenty metres until I tapped on her shoulder as my house appeared on the left out of the darkness. Thank God there were no lights on. Morticia must be in her coffin, I smiled to myself. Dad and James would be well asleep by now too.

The bike slowed a bit more and I pointed round the back of the house. There was just enough momentum to allow us to crunch through the gravel to the back of our double garage. I sighed in relief. Parked here, it wouldn’t be until at least 10 tomorrow morning that Dad would see it. We got off the bike and Naomi dropped the kick stand and let the bike settle at a shallow angle. She took off her helmet altogether and I had to stifle a gasp. Fuck...a mane of blonde hair fell free and I had to look away as she shook it loose. 

When I looked back, I saw she was smirking at me. Bitch, I thought...she knows what effect that’s had on me. Not just her doing some checking out tonight. I remembered her appreciative expression when I was standing in the road earlier. My heart starting thumping a bit faster. Calm yourself Emily Fitch, I told myself...just because she’s obviously gay, doesn’t mean she actually wants to...Oh God, I thought...did she actually want to…? Suddenly the prospect of a real life encounter with a total stranger wasn’t just something I daydreamed about when I had a spare hour alone with my secret plastic friend...this could actually be a...a thing?

All the time I’d been inside my own head, Naomi had been watching me, I realised. Fuck shit bollocks...its like she actually knows what I’m thinking? I flushed bright red, but thank heaven for the Styx like Australian night...she couldn’t actually see how embarrassed I was. But then she cleared her throat and spoke.

“Err...shall we go inside..l kinda need the bathroom Emily?”

I blinked and my mouth didn’t seem to want to work, but then it did.

“Oh...sorry, of course...wait there and I’ll get the key? The annexe is at the bottom of the garden...watch out for Jame’s...my little brothers...bike? He always leaves it laying around on the grass...” I stopped when I realised my silence had been replaced by incoherent babbling.

Naomi nodded, still trying to suppress that grin at my awkwardness, and walked off into the gloom towards the annexe. After kicking myself very hard mentally, I used my key to get into the kitchen and without turning the lights on, fumbled inside the cupboard over the counter for the annexe Yale. Luckily it was the first bunch I found. I slipped back out of the house, closing the door silently behind me.

This wouldn’t be the first time I had spent time in the annexe...lets just say when my parents were away checking out Jame’s boarding school options fifty miles west of here, I had escaped there when Katie decided our parents being away for three whole days constituted a free pass to ‘entertain’ her then boyfriend Jason. Talk about christen every room in the house...I nearly lost my fucking eyesight. The annexe became my de facto home for that three days.

But that was then and this was now. 

Taking a deep breath and pushing down my hopeful thoughts about a passionate night alone with this beautiful stranger, I followed her footprints in the dewy grass down to the small building at the bottom of my garden.


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sex then...

Emily

There are moments in your life when you know that you’ll remember them as long as you live. Often just fleeting instants, sometimes not. That first day at school, the fear and anticipation all mixed up in your 5 year old self. Your first proper kiss...well, first kiss from someone you actually want to kiss anyway. The day someone special looks into your eyes and you know your feelings are reciprocated, even if just for a moment.

Then there are times like this...with this stranger...because she still is a stranger… standing in our annexe in a damp towel, wet hair hanging over her face, watching my face and asking questions with her eyes that I needed no translation for.

Questions like “Do you want to take a chance on me Emily Fitch?”

and

“I know you’re scared, but thats OK too”

Questions that I was answering with my own eyes.

I’d been true to my word, sneaking back into the kitchen of my house and making Naomi a couple of my mothers home baked bread rolls with cheese and pickle inside. Oh, and a tin or two of my dads ice cold lager to wash them down with. Meanwhile she’d taken my advice and grabbed a hot shower in the annexe bathroom. When I got back to the small building, she was still in there. My mind immediately began tormenting me with visions of this exotic creature, naked, covered in soap suds…right there, with just a flimsy frosted glass door between us

I had to put down the plate and tins before I dropped them on the floor. Just thinking about her naked made my limbs shake and tremble. God help me if I actually saw her like that.

I tried talking to myself, but it was useless. Hope and trepidation alternated in tormenting me. Was she really into me like that? Was I just imagining an attraction...at least on her side...on mine it was intense...visceral. I wanted her. More than any of the pop stars and movie idols on my walls. More even than the time I kissed Sasha Andersson at that party.

When the door to the en suite finally opened, I had to take a huge gulp of oxygen. Waiting for her to come out had left me a quivering wreck. Lucky for me, she had a hand towel over her head, rubbing vigorously that mane of damp blonde hair so didn’t see my rabbit stare. Unfortunately for my fragile mental state though, that meant the bath towel round her body was, err...jiggling...with the movement of her arms. For a heart stopping second I thought the knot at her chest might work loose and drop the pink towel to the floor, leaving her totally naked. I don’t think my heart would have survived that.

She must have known I was standing there, but she took her time towelling her head before emerging from behind the square of fluffy cotton. Again I saw a small smirk, quickly masked as she looked me square in the eyes. Busted.

“That was great...thanks Emily” she said, moving over to the double bed (fuck..a bed) ...and those rolls look yummy. Join me?”

I swallowed hard. Food was the last thing on my mind,. But I had no idea how to deal with this situation. I was almost humming with indecision. Being this close to her...knowing under that towel, there was smooth and warm skin, knowing those intense eyes were watching my every reaction, I was paralysed with doubt. I fiddled with the torn edge of my ruined dress, temporarily unable to speak.

“Sit down Emily” she said, patting the bed beside her “you look a little wobbly there?”

Well, she was right, so I did as she asked, plonking myself down a few inches away from her. When I looked up into her eyes, I could see the amusement had gone. Her eyes were now serious, pupils dark. She reached over and put her hand over mine as it rested on the bed covers.

“You know...” she said slowly, her little finger stroking the back of my hand softly, sending intense sensations into my nerve endings “...sometimes you just have to reach out and take what you want?”

I almost gasped at that. I know what I wanted, but I had no fucking idea how to take it. Apart from my solitary exercises with soft porn internet movies and the odd lesbian romance novel, read covertly under my bed covers when Katie was out...I had no actual idea what to do with a real live girl. And a girl who obviously had a lot of experience in situations like this.

“I don’t know how...I mean I’ve never actually...” I muttered, not quite able to get the words out.

Naomi shook her head slightly as if in disbelief, and my heart sank to my feet. Probably not willing to educate silly little me then I thought miserably. Typical.

But then she slid that warm, slightly damp hand up my arm and stroked my cheek. I almost passed out at the tenderness in that gesture.

“We all have to start somewhere Emily” she said softly and smiled. “I’m not as tough as I look, you know...sometimes even scruffy motorcycle chicks know when to be gentle?”

My heart quickly resumed its position in the middle of my chest.

Naomi leaned closer and I felt her warm breath on my cheek as she tucked a lock of hair over my ear before whispering in it.

“Let me show you how wonderful it can be…?”

My wide and pleading eyes must have told her she had my total permission.

“No more teasing Emily, I promise...” she breathed and turned my head with that same soft hand. Her lips slid across my cheek and brushed my lips agonisingly delicately. I felt my fingers clenching the sheet below me as she moved closer, cradling me in her arms. I felt oddly like I had come home somehow. I had a tiny moment to realise nothing in my life would ever be the same after this. But then she kissed me again. Soft, still gentle but a proper kiss this time. 

I moaned quietly into her mouth as she slowly moved her lips over mine. No rough fingers gripped my face, no bristles and no urgent tongue probing my mouth...just soft and searching lips, allowing me to savour this moment. I moaned again as she cupped the back of my head and pushed me gently onto my back. My hands came up and stroked her water beaded bare shoulders as we continued to kiss.

It must have been several minutes before she did anything else to me...with me. At first it was enough just to enjoy this intimacy...this combined enjoyment. She seemed to know exactly how fast to go. How to arouse me without frightening me. Her hands took their time exploring the contours of my face, my neck and my shoulders. I shuddered more than once as I thought she was about to touch my breasts...breasts that were aching to be touched. But it was a while before kisses weren’t enough.

I was a bit of a passenger that first time (because there were several ‘times’ that glorious night) but she was patient and gentle throughout. No rough sex against a cold brick wall this...no, it was a slow, careful seduction and I was a very willing victim.

I felt her fingers at the buttons of my dress as we carried on enjoying each others mouths. My hand twitched on the bed cover again as she popped them one by one. Usually with a guy, I was already rehearsing my ‘thanks, but no thanks’ speech by now. But not this time. This time I wanted her hands to explore me, to own me.

The cool evening air on my naked skin made me shiver, but not with cold. I had my best bra and thong on underneath, not because I’d wanted Shane to discover them. No, not him...but this Naomi...oh fuck yes...I wanted her to like them?

Her experienced hands kneaded and stroked my tits over the lacy material, then unclipped the bra in an easy movement which gave me a moments pause...how many girls had sighed and surrendered under this gorgeous blonde, I thought? But the hesitation was blown away on the midnight breeze as her thumbs gently moved over my ultra sensitive nipples. I moaned again then. So this was what all the fuss was about. Far be it from me to delve into the mind of my promiscuous twin sister, but I had a small understanding then about why she could be so addicted to sex. If this was sex, then sign me up…

The next few moments were a blur as Naomi caressed me and slowly took off the rest of my clothes. She only paused when I was totally naked and lying on the bed looking up at her, chest heaving. She reached for the knot in her bath towel and it dropped away. God, she was stunning...all that smooth pale skin, those full breasts and the small dark triangle between those long legs.

Suddenly it was me who wanted to touch, me who reached out. The next time we kissed, it was me who slipped eager hands over soft flesh and thumbed excited nipples. This time it was Naomi who groaned helplessly.

When her fingers found me...there...I almost screamed out loud. No clumsy farm boy had ever found me this wet, this eager for penetration. No fumbling grope against a rough wall compared, this was deliriously good.

I used to think no one would ever be able to get me off but...well me. Unless it was my own fingers that probed and circled and pressed, no one else had ever made me lose control. But Naomi, with her sly caresses and sure movements, was in charge right through. The first time I came, it was with her name on my lips and two straight fingers buried deep inside me. I thought the books were just fantasy...you know...seeing stars and all that. But the whole fucking Southern constellation exploded in my head that night. I thrashed and bucked as she continued to thrust slowly, thumb grazing my sensitive bud as I peaked. But that wasn’t the end of it...not by a long way.

After slowly easing me down the back slope of my orgasm, she smiled at my flushed face and no doubt amazed expression.

“This is just the beginning Emily” she breathed, kissing my lips again before starting to kiss her way down my body. I made to protest, to to stop her progress with scrabbling hands, but she stopped just long enough to reassure me.

“It’s OK Emily...I know...sensitive, yeah?”

She certainly did know. After my solitary self imposed orgasms in the past, I had usually been content to curl up on my side and enjoy the after glow. Not tonight. Tonight, she was determined to show me everything.

The first touch of her tongue...slowly sliding around my clit... made me jerk and moan as if I’d been plugged in to the mains. Despite my sensitivity, I was never going to stop her, was I? She was obviously enjoying me as much as I was letting her enjoy me. With just one final weak sigh, I relaxed onto my back and let her magical tongue work its wonders between my legs.

XXX

Naomi

Even as I used all the skills I had learned in my 19 short years, I worried. Not about what I was doing. I’d had enough lovers to know when my caresses were working fine. But this was no horny waitress, grabbing a few moments frantic sex against a kitchen wall. It wasn’t even like those odd moments back home when I’d bagged some bi curious co worker or student and had the time to explore and excite on a proper bed while my mother was out.

No, even as I watched this Emily Fitch come so prettily it made my heart ache, I knew I was in trouble.

In truth, the reason I was about to go down on this stunning girl right after I’d already made her come so hard with my fingers was as much to do with blocking out the alarm bells which were clanging in my ears so deafeningly ever since I stepped out of the shower, as proving any points. I’m not usually averse to converting some random pillow princess, fresh from a couple of failed hetero shags. I got a bit of a reputation back home for giving satisfaction to even the fractionally bi females who got drunk enough and horny enough to give in to their curiosity. But the fact that this was very different was obvious from the moment I kissed her.

Emily Fitch is beautiful, tiny and vulnerable. But she’s also addictive and about as dangerous as captive lioness with cubs. Her kisses stunned me. For someone who obviously had little experience with other girls, she learned real quick. And after I stripped and stroked her to a frenzy, she made me do something I hadn’t done since my first sexual experience with my 35 year old next door neighbour Sally. She made me come without even touching me down there. Yeah...you heard right. All it took was a little friction between my clit and her thigh, while I was relentlessly thrusting inside her watching her lovely face reflect her own climax, and shockingly I was gone too…

I don’t even think she realised what had happened...but then she was so caught up in her own explosive orgasm, she could be excused that.

But I knew...and it frightened the shit out of me.

This was supposed to be a pleasant (OK more than pleasant) pit stop. A chance to refuel the Harley, grab some food and kip in that order and enjoy the charms of this pocket sized virginal doll, before sneaking out the back way tomorrow and watching this dusty little town disappear into my mirrors as ten other towns had done recently.

But it wasn’t working out that way. Even as I licked and stroked her, watching her face contort again as I built her desire up to boiling point, I knew it was going to be the hardest thing I’d done on this journey. I had to leave her behind.

Because I knew I had to, however addictive she is.

There is no way I am swapping one shithole country town for another half its size. With all the small town dreary crap that comes with it. Lined faces and weather beaten expressions. Girls barely out of their early teens, married or pregnant. Destined for a life looking out over the red landscape, never to escape.

No...I had to leave in the morning. Otherwise everything I’d sacrificed was for nothing. All those nights watching others getting ready to get hammered and screwed while I tucked away every dollar, knowing that every cent was one closer to that black and chrome beast outside.

When Emily had come for the second time and I kissed my way slowly back up her body to accept her grateful kisses, I was ready to revert to the old Naomi Campbell. The one that had ridden across hundreds of miles of open road. The girl who wouldn’t let anything tie her down again.

So I kissed her again and fell onto my side, already practising my goodbye speech.

“Its been great...you’ve been great Emily...now you know what its like.,..now you know what and who you really are...but me...I have to keep moving. Tomorrow morning I’ll be gone when you wake up...but...but...”

Plans huh?


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the run...

Naomi

“Take me with you?”

If there was a phrase I definitely wasn’t expecting to hear, that was top of the list. I mean what the fuck?

There was I, post I dunno, post the third time we made love?...and it was making love, not just needy fucking...which by the way, is some scary shit anyway, I was just about to make ‘the speech’. The one about moving on, its been great (and for once not having to force that statement out) and thanks for the memory, when she comes out with that.

Take her with me?

That was never on the itinerary I wrote down back in Inverleigh. The whole idea was a solitary trip across some of the most isolated country in South Australia, right up to where the motherland meets the Indian Ocean at Perth in WA. Maybe then hook up with someone cute and spend the summer deciding if I wanted to stay permanently. Taking someone with me, even someone as addictive and drop dead beautiful as this Emily Fitch, knocked me sideways.

My silence must have been longer than I thought, because she started to back track right away.

“No..I mean, of course not, I’m so stupid...you’re just passing through aren’t you? I’m sorry...its just that...”

I should have let her finish that stuttered retraction, but something made the right words freeze in my throat while she waited for me to answer. But I had to say something, didn’t I?

“Emily...look, this has been awesome...no...” I stopped and turned her face to mine, I could see bright tears shining in those luminous brown eyes. Fuck, I did that to her I thought guiltily.

“No...” repeated “I’m not giving you the brush off...it really has been awesome. But this is a huge decision. You have a life here...family? Work?...are you really saying you want to just sneak off in the morning...because I’m not hanging around while you have some big family discussion about..?

I stopped then, because I realised how hard and dismissive that sounded. I was going to leave first thing in the morning...its my sort of modus operandi. Hit and run. But now she’d thrown me the curve ball from hell. Was I just making excuses? Because part of my brain was screaming at me to just say yes to that left field request. Like I said...addictive. The idea of having that small curvy body on my pillion...and lets be honest, in my bed at night, wasn’t exactly unpleasant. But...but.

Her face changed from despair to hopefulness, mixed with a fair degree of determination.

“Look Naomi, as far as the family thing is concerned, they probably won’t even notice for a fucking week. Katie will just be mad at me because I fucked up her lift home. My mum will think I went to work early and my little brother will just want to bag my room if I disappear for good. Its probably only my dad who’ll care...and even then, as long as I’m OK and still breathing, he’ll just wish me luck. My job is a joke...stacking shelves at that supermarket we passed on the way here? Naomi...I like you...like you a lot. More than I should do probably after just one night together...I’d like to find out if this...” she waved at us lying there in the double bed “...is something more than just sex...unless that’s really all it was for you?”

There was my get out. Right fucking there. I could say yes, it was just sex, let her cry a bit then sneak away in the morning like I always do. By ten I’d be back on the A1, heading towards Ceduna, where I’d get my first proper look at the Southern ocean. I’d planned this trip right down to each individual stop on the way. Victoria was already way behind me...South Australia and the endless Nullabor Plain called to me. This was just a pesky spanner in the works I could easily remove...just by agreeing with her. Bit of short term pain, then I could move on...forget those brown eyes and that creamy body.

Except I fucking couldn’t.

XXX

Which is why I’m dressed in my leathers now, at 5 am while the sun starts to shimmer over the flat and featureless land surrounding this shitty little town I’ve forgotten the name of. Emily is back in the house, getting a bunch of her things together and searching for her savings book. Apparently she has an escape fund? $5000 dollars tucked away for something like this to happen. I have doubts...huge great dollops of doubt. What if I’m just a convenient way out for her?...What if it IS only sex holding us together? What if...what if…

I’m biting my lip, which is a sure sign of Campbell agitation or desire...and I had enough sex last night with Emily to suppress the second trigger at least for a few hours. No...this is definitely agitation. What the actual fuck am I doing?

Half an hour later, the bike thrumming purposefully underneath us, a full tank of petrol courtesy of Emily’s dads fuel storage drum (I insisted on tucking $30 under the oily work gloves and hose on top...I always pay for my fuel) and a small, shapely form gripping my waist from behind with both arms, the small town I stopped in last night has disappeared from my mirrors. Two hundred miles in front of us, Ceduna waits. 

XXX

Emily

My head was drumming to the rhythm of the metallic deep thunder below us. Naomi hadn’t said much for the past two hours, not that conversation was really practical over the roar of the bike, but still, it worried me a little...what was she thinking?

My home town had long disappeared into the hazy distance, its ochre shaded single storey roof tops swallowed up by our dust cloud inside seconds. Was I really going to do this? Well I reasoned, its a bit late for second thoughts now. Even if Naomi gets tired of my company and dumps me in some other little town several hundred miles west of here, the die is well and truly cast. My dream of freedom realised.

Leaving had actually been a lot easier than I always thought it would be, even when I was daydreaming about something like this happening to me in my bedroom, back when adolescent dreams were all I had. Well, not exactly like this. I’d not imagined a lone sexy biker with stunning eyes and a body to die for shagging me senseless then letting me come with her on a journey across the country. No...it was usually more just some hazy dream about hitching a lift with a passing attractive stranger (OK, always a female passing stranger) to the nearest main railroad station. There may have been some shagging involved...usually in a motel where I ‘paid’ for my ride… but that sort of fantasy always morphed into some energetic self abuse quite quickly anyway. No, this scenario had never actually occurred to me. Too far fetched by far.

But here I am, holding onto her slim waist and watching the scenery blur beside us as the big bike eats up the miles. 

I left three notes in the end, hurriedly scribbled as I simultaneously packed a few essential things and tried hard not to wake the household. At 5 am, after an evening of vigorous sex, Katie would be hard enough to wake at 8 am, let alone 5, but my parents are lighter sleepers. I managed to get my stuff packed and my savings passbook rescued from the box under my bed (I binned the rest of the contents of said box out the back...way too many embarrassing memento’s in there for me to risk it being broken into after my family discovered my disappearance) Then I crept downstairs and propped the three notes up on the empty breakfast table. My dad would be up at 7.30 and, after he read his note would rush upstairs to wake my mum and sister. Once they read their own notes, they wouldn’t need any more clues about what had happened. 

I’d been honest in all the brief messages I left. 

I had to get away.

The fact that I was going away with a brand new lover was academic...wasn’t it? At least I hoped so. I didn’t even go there as far as my parents were concerned. I told them I’d just had enough of small town dystopia and fled the nest, simple as. My sister got a slightly more detailed reason, because despite her dominant ways, I knew Katie would be more understanding after the initial meltdown. She knows in her heart of hearts that I’m gay and that all those double dates and forced foreplay nights with hopeful farm boys or mechanics was just delaying the inevitable. I would never find ‘the one’ in this small town...there wasn’t exactly a surplus of available teenage lesbians, was there? So I hoped that after the initial storm had calmed down, she’d call me and we could begin to talk about this rationally. Well, that’s my hope anyway. But I wasn’t brave enough to leave my phone on during this first leg of my journey. I knew the instant my departure was registered, there would be a hundred calls, texts and voice mails to deal with. Sitting on this wide leather pillion seat, holding onto Naomi’s waist with both hands, I could just let the speed and noise drown out my worries...couldn’t I?

XXX

Naomi

Sitting in this diner, watching Emily eat enough breakfast for a family of four, I found myself smiling goofily at her innocent face. Munching yet another thick slice of my buttered toast after she’d demolished her own, she looked...blissfully happy. And it was curiously infectious.

We did a little diversion off the A1 a few miles back, just in case the Fitch Wacky Racers set off in hot pursuit when they read her notes, but this was just another identikit watering hole anyway, full of tired reps and brawny truck drivers. A whole lot like the last place I stopped in fact, just without the pneumatic and obliging waitress. I looked away from Emily’s unknowing face as I recalled that recent urgent sex against the wall with...Maria...wasn’t it? This was hardly the time for all our knee trembler yesterdays, was it?

But since that exciting but loveless encounter, sex had become a whole lot more complicated. Better by far...but definitely complicated.

“I think the owner has sent out for another few loaves, in case you feel the need for ten more slices” I said to the top of her head as she spread butter on the last slice. Emily looked up unapologetically, eyes sparkling and smiled prettily at me, odd crumbs sprinkling her blue top.

“Bit hungry Naomi...maybe all that...mm... exercise?” she grinned and I got a strong twinge at the memories that stirred up. Exercise indeed…

“Better keep your strength up then Em….I have all new exercise plans for you later?” I said, only half joking.

Her expression went from amusement to something else in a second. Something steamy and intense. My twinge was repeated. She put down the half eaten slice and licked her lips with a small pink tongue. Fuck, that gesture should be illegal, I thought. I remembered her using that tongue on my appreciative body last night. For a beginner, she sure learned quick.

“Yeah?” she said huskily and I wriggled slightly in my seat, conscious that more than one travel worn pair of eyes would no doubt be looking on with interest. Not many female bikers were on this busy road, but there were even fewer obvious girl couples who couldn’t take their eyes off each other. I guarantee several horny truck drivers would be more than curious about our status.

“Yeah” I answered “...but unless we get a move on...the whole diner will realise I’m just waiting for you to stop eating toast so I can take you somewhere and ravish you naked over a convenient rock?”

By the way Emily jerked in her seat, it wasn’t just me getting twinges now. She quickly brushed stray crumbs off her shirt and started to get up, grabbing her short leather jacket from the back of the chair and tossing a $20 on the table. She leaned closer to me as I watched her and grinned cheekily.

“It isn’t just me who’s horny again then..? “she smirked, then whispered in my ear “...I never told you about my ‘bucket list’ did I Naomi? Sex outdoors was somewhere near the top...next to large knobbly toys and well...other.. even nastier things?”

The twinge between my legs turned into a molten surge and I nearly fell over getting out of my chair. What sort of monster had I woken up here? Such a lusty little button, this Emily Fitch, my overheated brain chanted at me as I followed her pert arse out of the diner, curious stares following us as we left.

XXX

Naomi

Two hours later, we were just pulling out of an isolated copse of eucalyptus trees. Trees that had conveniently concealed me keeping my promise. A wide, sun warmed rock was indeed our temporary bed, covered by a car blanket I had in one of the panniers. It had been intended as a picnic blanket, but making love to a sighing and verbally appreciative Emily Fitch was a far better use for it. Out in the full sun, it was hot. But under the partial shade of the thick foliage, we made full use of the au natural privacy. Like I said...fucking addictive.

I was fully aware by now, that Emily had a tonne of suppressed desires to experience and she’d been very...explicit...about how she wanted to share that bucket list with me. I might be more experienced than her...but by the sounds of it, she’s spent a lot of time back in that one horse town thinking about what she wanted to try when the right person came along.

Part of me was frankly in awe that she was so open about it all. Most girls her age, if they truly are gay, have thought about what they wanted to do with the right person, but she had hit the point precisely when she said she needed to find out if we had more than just a physical attraction to work out. I found myself imagining a future with this pocket sized Venus. It went against everything I had been, and imagined I would be. Always been a loner...sex for me was just physical...or so I thought. Just before we got dressed and hit the road again (I wanted to get to Ceduna before nightfall) we sat comfortably naked together with just the blanket under us, fingers linked, looking through the trees at the distant highway, with its occasional road train thundering by.

“What are you thinking about” Emily said, squeezing my fingers.

“You” I said honestly “and that’s been true ever since the moment I met you?”

I felt rather than saw her head swing round quickly to look at me. I carried on looking out over the countryside, not trusting myself to stare into those expressive eyes right then.

“Really?” she said hoarsely and a small twinge revisited my sensitive areas as I remembered why her voice sounded a bit overused. I don’t think the local parakeets and koala’s would forget Emily Fitch’s rather extensive orgasmic vocabulary in a hurry. I ducked my head and hid the sly grin which spread over my face at that. Emily nudged me in the ribs and I knew I was busted.

“Oi...that hurt” I laughed, even though it actually did hurt. Fitch elbows are sharp? 

“Generally, partner abuse comes a bit later in a relationship?”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to reach out and pull them back in.

Relationship? Who the fuck said anything about that?

XXX

Emily

As we roared down the road, a bit quicker than before as Naomi wanted to reach Ceduna by dusk, I tightened my grip on her waist and smiled contentedly to myself against her back. Relationship...I liked the sound of that word. I know it was more a slip of the tongue than a real attempt to define us, but the old adage about the mind being several steps in front of the voice came back to me. At least she was thinking about me a lot. That admission was comforting. To be honest, I’d thought about nothing else but Naomi since last night….I suddenly realised I didn’t even know her last name… I opened my mouth to shout in her helmeted ear, but stopped myself when I realised it was pointless. Now we were doing over 70 instead of the steady 55mph we started off doing, the sound of the engine drowned out any attempt to speak. I swallowed my question and went back to enjoying the sensation of speed and her warm body pressed against mine. Time for questions later, when we’d checked into a motel room for the night. I shivered slightly, despite the warmth of the mid morning sunshine. A motel meant a bed...and a bed meant more ticks on my bucket list. I hadn’t been kidding about that. The actual list existed...or it had done before I’d buried it at the bottom of the incinerator bin at the bottom of the garden before we left. No way did I want my sister or mother (horror of horrors) reading about my adolescent yearnings for adventurous sex. That sort of list is only for personal enjoyment?

The sound of the motor was strangely soothing, loud as it was, and I found myself drifting into a sort of half sleep. The small backrest and Naomi’s body kept me secure and I relaxed into happy dreams about the future. Sex and a full breakfast made for a sleepy Emily…

XXX

Naomi

The lights of Ceduna were twinkling in the distance now. I could feel Emily’s body leaning against me and realised she was at least half asleep. She’d tucked her hands inside the zipped top of my leather jacket and after I’d got used to her warm flesh against mine, it wasn’t exactly the worst sensation in the world. My fears about calling this ‘thing’ a relationship had faded a bit as we sped across the state. I rationalised it in my head, the way I always had when I was confronted with a dilemma. Its not as if she was unpleasant company was it? And the bike travelled just as speedily with two riders. I liked her...a lot more than I should after less than 24 hours, but so what? Maybe fate had dealt me a good hand this time. I fucking deserved one, yeah?

By the time I could see the bay and pier, Emily was stirring. I think the reduced speed and engine noise woke her. She pushed her head onto my shoulder and as I had the front of my visor up, I could hear her clearly.

“Here?” she said sleepily and I grinned.

“Yeah...thanks for the stimulating company Em” I said wryly.

“I’ll make it up to you later...several times Naomi...” she said slowly and for emphasis, slid her hands up my body under the jacket and cupped my tits firmly. I had to force myself not to react. Even at slow speeds the Harley is a handful...which is precisely what Miss Fitch had at the moment. Two handfuls. I bit my lip again, but this time it wasn’t agitation. Suddenly the search for a motel was urgent….

XXX


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting closer...

Naomi

We checked into the cheapest place in town, which turned out to be the Ceduna Motor Inn. Not a brilliantly inventive name, but we were both tired and stiff after the long journey from Emily’s home town and at least it was clean and functional. Despite her whispered promises (and those grabby wandering hands), by the time we’d checked our bags and dumped them in the room, then found a nearby diner to eat in, then wandered back via a couple of handy bars, we were both fit for nothing but a wash and sleep.

I showered first while Emily phoned her sister and mother. I could hear her shouting and crying over the sound of the water pounding on my aching shoulders, but decided against getting out early, coward that I am. Some things are better dealt with alone and family rows are top of that list in my opinion. Call me a coward if you like, but I don’t think my presence would have calmed the situation any. From the Fitch family perspective, I’d inevitably be painted the big bad leather clad dyke who’d stolen their precious daughter/sister away. I could hardly blame them for thinking that, now could I? One minute their demure offspring was going on heterosexual double dates with her more confident sister, working in the local mini mart, waiting for some gawky farmers son to claim her as a prospective ‘sheila’. Next thing I come along out of nowhere, sweep her off her feet (literally) shag her comatose (that bit I have NO regrets about)...thereby converting her to the delights of Sappho overnight (again literally) as if by dark magic and run off (well ride off) with her into the distance, maybe never to be seen again.

When I finally got out, skin somewhat wrinkled from the excessive time in there and walked into the bedroom (OK, lingering quite a bit until the sounds of distress from the other room had faded), Emily was sitting on the bed, staring at her silent phone as if her mother was going to leap from it like a modern day evil genie. Luckily she didn’t, but Emily didn’t seem overly convinced she wouldn’t at some point.

“Hey you” I said, as softly as I could. Emily looked up at me with sad, red rimmed eyes and my heart melted a bit more. Even miserable, she was hands down the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. 

“They...they hate me, Naomi...” she said bleakly, dropping the phone onto the carpeted floor beside the bed. I sat down bedside her and draped one arm over her shoulders. She collapsed into me then and sobbed onto my already damp bath towel. I figured she’d earned that, so just let her weep for a while before finally hugging her hard and turning her head to mine.

“They don’t hate you Em” I said firmly (wondering again where that nickname came from) “...they might hate what you’ve done...at least for now, but family's don’t work like that. People you love and people who love you don’t switch it off because you do something that pisses them off. Look...its a massive shock for them...you just jogging on like that...it’s bound to take time for them to process it all. At least you’ve let them know that you’re alive and well. That’ll be a relief for them?”

I’m sure that crock of shit was straight out of those saddo agony aunt columns my mum reads and parrots back at people, but I’m not exactly famous for my sage relationship advice am I? 

“They...they think you’ve kidnapped me or something?” Emily choked “...My mum wanted to call the Federal Police...get a warrant out for your arrest...they wanted to know your surname...where you came from...stuff like that. Then I realised I couldn’t tell them anyway...I don’t even know your last name...how fucked up does that make me?”

Again I got the three minute sob. I braced myself. Whatever the Fitches thought, the reasons for Emily not knowing my last name had nothing to do with me being an international lesbian predator specialising in corrupting small beautiful brunettes. I coughed politely to interrupt the crying jag and Emily looked up at me with tear streaked cheeks, her eyes wide and sad. Again my heart leapt at her beauty.

“Look, Em...my last name...well...I never tell people…even people I have an irresistible attraction to...you know, like you.. straight off. When I do tell you...you’ll understand...I promise?”

The curious stare continued.

I took a deep breath.

“Its...oh fuck it...its Campbell” I said, letting out a long sigh of resignation. 

There was a pause while Emily processed that information. Then those big eyes sparkled in delight and her lips pressed tightly together. Like someone who was trying very hard not to laugh in my face. Again I sighed, this wasn’t an entirely new reaction to my surname.

“Naomi….Campbell?” she said finally after getting her lips under control. Oh well, I thought...at least its stopped her sobbing….

“Yes..Naomi fucking Campbell. Apparently my sainted mother thought it would be a brilliant idea to give her fair haired, blue eyed daughter exactly the same name as an ageing black American supermodel with anger management issues. I’d hide that phone and your shoes Em...my namesake has a bit of a reputation for using them as offensive weapons?”

That did it. The tears stopped and Emily laughed...I mean really laughed out loud. So much she had to let go of me and hold her sides. I decided it was my all time favourite sound...then remembered the awesome experience of Emily coming underneath me last night….OK, second favourite sound. But then she carried on laughing.

Fuck me, I know its mildly amusing...but really?

Eventually she quietened, then grabbed me in a proper bear hug. I sighed again, but this time with more pleasure. My stupid name had ended the hysterics at least. I’ve been putting up with other peoples reaction to my name since third grade...it wasn’t a thing that worried me too much nowadays.

“Finished?” I said sarcastically, hugging her back. I could feel her smile against my bare shoulder.

“Yeah...yeah, sorry about that...I think it was just the shock coming out...I love your name...its really you Naomi. I won’t laugh again, promise...it was just...”

“I know...I know...” I said, mocking a severe expression “...but just so’s you know...any more hilarity at my surname will definitely result in serious physical repercussions?”

She grinned cheekily and nodded.

“Point taken” she said huskily “...well...after that bombshell and the drama of talking to my beloved family...I need a long hot shower and a comfortable bed to sleep in?”

My ideas about ravishing Emily Fitch most of tonight seemed to be on temporary hold after all, so I stifled my instinct to turn the conversation into something else and just shrugged.

“Sounds like a plan Miss Fitch. We have a long day coming up...in fact quite a few long days...the Nullabor is waiting..get yourself into that shower missy”

XXX

Next morning, after a very pleasant, but sex free cuddle, we reluctantly got up and showered again. Not that we had done anything to get sweaty over...but I had plans for our only full day in Cedona and even the prospect of finding out if Emily made those endearing breathless sounds every time she was pleasured had to take a back seat. First food...because if I’ve learned anything in this strange 36 hours, its how much fuel my little companion needs to take on board to function. Then the Southern ocean.

I’d promised myself on the ride here that my first look at Murat Bay across the peninsular would be from here. Its a bit of a minor holiday resort, but less crowded and overdone than the more popular seaside towns. The beach is lined with pine trees and the abundance of sandy inlets means you don’t have to be neighbourly unless you want to. Frankly, at the moment I don’t want to. After last nights drama, all I wanted was a full belly, a stroll out along the jetty, then to find some deserted spot to ravish the nubile Emily Fitch all over again.

Which is exactly what happened. I don’t think (although who knows) my mother had this sort of bodily function in mind for that picnic blanket she insisted I pack, but I found myself laying it on soft sand about half a mile from the town and proceeding to lay out the willing and appreciative Miss Fitch on it. For the second time in 24 hours, I found out how flexible she is in the outdoors.

Half an hour later, we fell apart, panting and smirking at each other. Like I said...a quick learner, my Emily.

I just did it again, didn’t I...”my Emily?”

What the actual fuck?

XXX

Three days later, I was still magnetised by everything about her. Her face...the way she could just smile shyly at something I said and make my heart thump wildly in my chest. The way she changed from mock innocence into something altogether hotter when we were naked and alone. The way she slept curled up on her side, hands clasped in front of her chin with me spooning her from behind. Her expression when she woke and saw me gazing at her...alright, so sue me...I’m growing to adore that moment when the world is new again and her dark eyes widen at my obvious affection. Inevitably, wherever we are...(and the Nullabor is nothing if not searingly predictable) the schedule is the same... Up early, hearty breakfast, hard riding for 4 hours, lunch somewhere scruffy and usually just this side of hygienic, then another 3 hours riding until we hit some small settlement with a motel. We brave the looks, the nudges and the crass comments… two young women on a large motorcycle are a proper novelty out here. We keep the PDA’s to a minimum when we arrive...just in case a couple of frustrated sheep farmers or tractor mechanics get liquored up and decide to inspect the leather clad merchandise?

Yesterday was a prime example of how things can go badly wrong if you aren’t careful. We’d made ourselves late by stopping en route, mainly because Emily decided a bit more al fresco sex was necessary. No chance of me arguing with that sentiment, so we pulled off the Eyre Highway on a rough track somewhere west of Eucla and took advantage of a rare copse of trees to do the dirty deed. No nakedness this time. After the delicious adventure on the picnic rug back in Ceduna, common sense prevailed. Did you know a good proportion of the worlds most poisonous creatures reside in Oz? From spiders to aggressive honey bees, right through to the good old Eastern brown snake and packs of hungry dingos. Not to mention the stuff that floats and swims in the waters. Bull sharks, box jelly fish and the most venomous sea snake in the world. Enough for both of us to think twice about baring all in the outback. Bad enough if you get bitten somewhere near civilisation, but I had no desire, even for the enticing prospect of seeing Emily totally naked, to have to rely on the Flying Doctor Service to save her life, or mine. Nope… a handy group of trees, a scan of the immediate area, then some heated snogging and groping, followed by two quickly unzipped pairs of trousers and bingo...everyone’s a winner. Well us two anyway.

Later than planned, we stopped at a motel I wouldn’t have given house room if it had been daylight. But the frantic shag in the trees out in the country had put us a good hour behind schedule, so I reluctantly pulled in to the place in growing darkness...which was immediately dubbed the Bates Motel by Emily...(if you haven’t seen Psycho, that will go straight over your head but anyway…) and with some trepidation, took a scruffy double room next but one to the bar. Which is of course, where it all went wrong. We showered, decided to give the so called ‘restaurant’ a miss and wolfed down the last food in my side pannier. There was a vending machine on the porch outside the rooms, which happily had plenty of ice cold mineral water and cola available, so we curled up together on the double bed in front of the small TV with crisps, several chocolate bars and an icy cola, then to sleep out the night. 

Then at about ten, we heard two or three diesel trucks pull up in the parking lot. Pickups, battered and dirty I saw when I peeked through the curtains. Two guys in each, whooping and high fiving each other like ten year olds as they got out. I caught a glimpse of a couple of clear plastic bin liners on the flatbed of one truck, stuffed full of empty beer cans. Looked like the ockers had been on the sauce for a good while. Then I saw a couple of dead joey's strapped to the second truck’s bonnet.

“Fuck, Em...” I said over my shoulder whilst trying hard not to get noticed by the knuckle heads outside “...”looks like the local branch of kangaroo murderers are having a fucking hoe down”

I saw one guy, all long stringy black hair and an unshaven sallow face, take a long, calculating look at my Harley, parked right in front of our door.

“Shit” I breathed, trying not to alarm Emily too much “I think we might need to do some night riding hun?...I don’t fancy hanging around when this lot start on the hard stuff?”

The look on Emily’s face told me I was not gonna get an argument from her.

They eventually disappeared into the ramshackle excuse for a bar and I closed the curtains.

“They might be harmless, but in my limited experience, drunk farm boys with guns and no women around are a handful at the best of times. I don’t think there’ll be a State trooper for miles around here, so lets play it safe, huh? While they’re getting the first drinks in and boasting about who shot Roger Rabbit, we make a quick getaway?”

I saw the pale face of my riding companion go another shade lighter. Emily might have a little experience of fending off persistent adolescents back in hicksville, but these weren't boys, they’re men. Brawny, full of beer and group bravado after their blood lust had been satisfied. The odds were if we stayed quiet, they would get so drunk the threat might evaporate on its own, but I wasn’t about to take chances. Two women...alone and way too available was a temptation I wasn’t prepared to dangle in front of them. One or maybe even two guys, we could probably handle. Using some Campbell sarcasm and quick wit. But six? Nope...something comes over groups of pissed up men when there is pretty prey and I had no wish to jeopardise my own safety, let alone my lovely companions.

So we packed our stuff quickly, ramming what we hadn’t changed into or eaten into the leather side pannier. Dressed again in clean jeans and my spare warm fleece jacket, I zipped Emily into my comfy leather one, It was a bit big for her, but the night air would be properly cold at this time of night on the Harley at high speed... because I intended to put several miles at least between us and the Wild Bunch before they noticed we’d checked out early. I had no doubt that the curious guy...the ugly one ogling the Harley...would right now be asking the old guy on reception who owned the expensive bike next door.

Once he clued his mates into the fact that it was just two girls travelling without male escort, I could easily guess the sort of twisted fantasy they might be sharing by now. 

Nope, a cold ride overnight was still the best bet. We could catch up on sleep tomorrow

Which is, of course, where my plan went to shit.

Packed and dressed for the road, we left the room quietly and slipped the key back inside the door through the flap. I think regular housekeeping is probably an occasional treat rather than a daily occurrence, but at least we’d done the right thing. I looked up and down the row of identical deserted rooms and noted with satisfaction that there was clear audible evidence of the group of guys hitting the amber nectar hard in the bar. I thought we’d got away with it. 

Silly me….

“Going somewhere ladies?” the drawl from behind the vending machine made us both jump. I already had the chunky keys to the Harley in my hand and briefly considered ignoring him and just trying to jump aboard. If we lost the pannier in the process, it would hurt my wallet, but rather that than be stuck here, I’d take that anyday. 

It was of course Mr lanky hair, holding a beer can in one hand and smirking at his own cleverness in guessing we might make a run for it. He was about 5 feet in front me, Emily was standing just behind me and again I briefly considered kicking him in the nuts with my boot. If my aim could be guaranteed, I could gain us a few seconds. But fatally, I hesitated and in that moment another tall figure appeared in the doorway behind him. A yellow haired duplicate of old sallow face, flushed with drink and just as nasty.

“Whoo hoo!” he said loudly as his beer fuelled eyes saw who his ‘friend’ was next to. “Fuck Freddie mate...we hit the jackpot...the old guy said they were two ancient sheila’s...he’s a fucking liar?”

I realised that the guy who checked us in had at least been good enough to try to put Mutt and Jeff here off the scent, but we were busted now. I could feel Emily get closer to me, almost touching my back. I knew she would be scared, so I tried to make up for it by pretending to be the big butch biker chick I really wasn’t.

“Listen guys...its real nice to meet you and all that...but we have some hard riding to do tonight…?”

I knew as soon as the words left my mouth it was about the worst thing I could have said. Both chancers burst into drunken laughter at my inadvertent double entendre. Fuck Naomi, I thought...way to make a bad situation worse??

Lanky hair, who’s name was Freddie apparently, stopped laughing abruptly as I made a move to get closer to the bike. His eyes narrowed and he moved slickly between me and the Harley.

“Bit antisocial girls...me and the boys are going to celebrate my birthday in the bar...come and join us...we don’t get many pretty girls around here?...” he grinned nastily “...maybe you can do that ‘hard riding’ you’re looking forward on this...I guarantee you satisfaction blondie?”

He gripped his jean clad crotch crudely and I swear my heart hit the soles of my feet. Emily let out a small whimper behind me. I don’t suppose she’d ever encountered anything like this in her small burg. I know I hadn’t.

“Look mate...” I started, but Freddie was on a roll now and waved my protest away.

“Nahhh...she’ll be right, girl...” he drawled, resting his hand on the Harley’s wing mirror “...I insist...the lads would really love to meet you?”

I bet they would, I thought bitterly. I had visions of being screwed by the whole gang over the torn pool table...and probably Emily too. The gorge rose in my throat. We’re fucked, I thought grimly…and not in a nice way.

I tried one more time, although I knew it was a pointless exercise. 

“Thanks for the offer, uh...Freddie? But drink and driving is illegal, you know...so if you’ll just...”

I tried to push past him, but felt his hand grip my elbow painfully. He leaned closer and the stink of stale beer made my stomach roil as he lowered his voice to a stage whisper.

“Come on girl...what’s a nice fuck between friends. There’s only six of us...you ladies take three each and then you can be on your way...might be a bit uncomfortable for a while on the old saddle...but you’ll cope, I bet?”

I shuddered. Even if I was crazy enough to accept being gang raped myself, I would rather have died than let them use Emily like that. And that’s assuming this arsehole would actually let us go after getting his way. More likely we would be fucked repeatedly till dawn and then dumped somewhere remote for the wildlife to finish off. I don’t think live witnesses were on this assholes agenda. This was getting scarier by the second and I felt Emily press against me again. The yellow haired guy had moved sideways while stinky breath was propositioning me and I felt my companion shudder as he got closer to her. 

I stood there frozen for a second as this Freddie guy regarded me with a questioning stare. I knew then there was nothing I could say that would stop this thing if I didn’t do something. It might be a forlorn chance, but I was fresh out of ideas. The one thing I carry which Emily isn’t aware of, is a small, but very sharp Buck knife, tucked into a side pocket in my jeans. I guessed it would probably turn out to be a futile gesture, but it was the only play I had in my locker. While he grinned at his own cleverness and his friend continued to get closer to Emily, I made a grab for my pocket. The knife is the lock type and luckily, drink had slowed his reflexes a bit. Before his hand could move from my elbow to my free hand, I had the blade at his throat. I saw his eyes widen in surprise and for a brief second, thought I had bought us a chance.

But that was before his suddenly not so slow witted friend took the opportunity to grab hold of Emily. I heard her gasp in shock as he wrapped his arms round her and tugged her from me. Now I had nothing left to bargain with. All my mothers warnings about lone riding and dangerous strangers came back to me in a rush...we were both going to get raped and killed, that was certain.

And then…

BOOM!

Everyone froze like kids at a drama class as the unmistakeable sound of a shotgun firing into the air echoed round the compound. My knife was still at lanky hairs throat and his eyes bugged as he tried to turn his head to see what was happening, but the metal was firmly against his flesh. The bottom of the 3” blade was serrated and the slightest movement from me would result in his entire throat opening up. 

“I think the parties over Freddie” a gravelly voice said from the shadows. We all looked quickly in that direction.

“Young lady...would you mind taking that pig sticker away from the nice gentleman’s throat? I think we can come to an arrangement here...Jimmy?...Let the other girl go too...and walk over here...nice and slow?”

The disembodied voice slowly resolved into a tall, rangy figure with a wide brimmed hat. About 50, I guess...not the owner and not anyone from inside the bar. The sounds of laughter and music had stopped abruptly when the shotgun fired and the stranger stepped neatly sideways when the other four men spilled out onto the dusty compound. They stared at the guy just as we were doing. 

“Now boys...I believe these ladies were just about to leave...right?” the man drawled, holding the double barrelled gun so that it covered the entire group.

I nodded quickly.

“Yeah...that’s right...”

He nodded back.

“Ohh kay...so why don’t you girls get on your way, now?...I suggest you head west for about ten miles, there’s a real nice rest stop just off the highway...a bit more upmarket than this place...and it has the added bonus of a police station next door...just in case Freddie and Jimmy here decide to do any more midnight driving?”

No one else was talking. Freddie’s nasty demeanour seemed to have deserted him. I guessed that whoever this stranger was, the men were extremely wary of him. 

While Emily jumped on the pillion and I strapped the pannier back onto the bike, the guy nonchalantly pulled a loose rolled cigarette from his shirt pocket and with his spare hand, flicked his lighter to ignite it. In the glow from the flame, I could see he was quite a bit older than I had guessed, maybe late sixties. But that shotgun kept swinging slowly sideways, back and forth, just in case anyone decided to get brave.

They didn’t.

Thirty seconds later we were disappearing noisily down the highway on full throttle. The man had said just before I started the Harley’s engine, that he would ‘entertain’ the men for half an hour, just so we got a proper head start. No one contradicted him...they just stood sullenly in a semi circle, watching us leave….and the barrel of that shotgun.

Fuck ten miles...we drove almost 50 before stopping again. It meant a cold wait on a porch waiting for the truck stop to open for breakfast, but neither Emily or I cared about that much.

We never knew the guys name or why the others were so scared of him...but he had our eternal thanks that night.

XXX

Over 24 hours later, rested and recovered from the ordeal, I started the Harley again outside another anonymous motel and we were again on the road….Perth was getting closer. If I’d known then what I know now, I might have just turned the bike round and taken Emily straight home…

But thats for next time…


	6. Six

Emily

I’m almost asleep...the thundering of the bike underneath us is strangely soporific. I’ve got used to the vibration, the muted roar of the exhaust and the feeling of Naomi leaning slightly forwards in front of me, guiding the big machine ever westwards. We’ve left that motel well behind now...you know, the one where we almost got gang raped and murdered...that one?

But its still haunting me. Big time.

I thought after a few dozen miles and the comforting sensation of hugging my beautiful biker chick round the waist, I would begin to lose the horrible sensation of being out of control and in extreme danger.

But it hasn’t worked out like that at all. The opposite in fact. Even though we’ve now put a couple of hundred miles between us and that inbred bunch of would be rapists, I still wake up in a sweat when I open my eyes in some other anonymous motel in the middle of nowhere. But I’m not reliving the actual events...not really anyway. Naomi has been brilliant at distracting me...in lots of ways...and no. not with sex No, its deeper than that. Back in my home town, I would never have faced anything like that sort of ordeal. My sexual experiences with farm boys and mechanics sons might have been unsatisfying and usually brief, but my home community was a small enough place for anyone with shall we say, rougher tendencies to be quickly identified and avoided. Growing up, I think there was only one serious sexual assault recorded in my town. It was a stranger just passing through who wouldn’t take no for an answer from Francine Brockhurst, the blousy waitress at our only proper diner. Which is a bit odd on more than one level. Even as a young teenager, I knew about Francine's lurid reputation. The wrong side of 35 and married for about 14 of those to Luke Shaw, the guy who owned our supermarket, she had three kids she was rarely seen with and spent a whole lot of time hanging out of her uniform top, flashing her saggy tits to sales reps and farmers visiting town. Rumours abounded about her...err ‘skills’ and more than once I saw her with a black eye after Luke discovered gruesome evidence of her occasional faithlessness. But I guess being crudely banged in the arse against your will over a trash bin and having your head rapped on it a dozen times to keep you quiet was a bit extreme, even for her. The guy who wouldn’t play nice was found and pummelled by at least half a dozen local guys in the alley behind the diner, then handed over bruised and bloodied to the State Police. I never heard what happened to him, but Francine changed her ways a bit after that. At least the black eyes were less frequent.

But what happened...or almost happened...to me and Naomi, has unsettled me badly. Not for the reasons you might think. I’m angry at them of course...and still a bit scared we might encounter them or someone like them again...although after a few hundred miles, thats a bit unlikely...but mostly I’m angry at myself.

Yeah, thats right...me.

Because while Naomi was shielding me, risking her life to stick a knife under that greasy fuckers chin...I was whimpering and almost wetting myself with fear behind her. This trip was supposed to be an escape in more than one way for me. Yes, an escape from the dreary, predictable life my parents wanted for me. But an escape from the old Emily too...the one that does as she is told, who conforms at all times, obeys, follows. And the Emily who is not brave enough to face the world alone, without the safety blanket of the Fitch family.

What sort of person am I if the very first challenge I face is met with helpless tears and trembling? If Naomi hadn’t stood up for us...Jesus, if she hadn’t even been there? I would have been led meekly into the bar to provide compliant ‘entertainment’ for all six of those priapic bar flies. Gang raped and discarded afterwards. I know Naomi’s heroics were futile in the end...the stranger with the shotgun was our real saviour. But I was no use whatsoever. 

It hurts to admit that I’m a passenger on this trip in more ways than the obvious one. 

XXX

Even now...a hundred and fifty miles from our destination Perth, I still haven’t recovered that easy happiness we shared up until the fateful stopover. Naomi has recognised my distraction, but she seems reluctant to confront me about it. I love her for being so considerate (whoops, Freudian slip or what?), but my hatred for my own weakness in the face of danger is spilling over into what was up to now a blissful period in my life.

We hadn’t had sex again up until tonight. I guess we both felt it was bit soon after so nearly providing the meat in a drunken farm boys sandwich, so the first three nights after riding hard for several hundred miles in a day, we showered, ate in near silence, then collapsed onto an anonymous motel bed to sleep. Up early next day, breakfast in a diner punctuated by small talk about nothing much, then back on the Harley for another few hundred miles. 

The Eyre Highway, together with the undoubted bleak beauty of the Nullabor Plain, passed by us in a reddish brown blur for the most part. Unseen, unadmired.

So tonight, when Naomi pulled in to a slightly more upmarket motel than we’d been used to stopping at well before our usual stopping time, I knew she was trying to break the cycle we’d sunk into. 

It was still daylight when we’d finishing our meal via room service (again a rare treat) and when Naomi insisted I take a shower first when we got back to the room, I kinda knew what was on the menu for dessert….me.

Don’t get me wrong. Sex with Naomi was never going to be unpleasant, whatever the circumstances. Since we got together, I’ve learned a whole lot about the female anatomy and she is a very thorough teacher. So, when I came out of the shower clean of body, but still with those annoying dark internal thoughts, she gave me a long kiss before taking my place in the bathroom.

“Bed… and Em…? No tee tonight babe, yeah?” she breathed huskily in my ear. That was something else that I had started to do very recently...wear night clothing. It obviously hadn’t gone unnoticed either.

I nodded and after brushing out my hair, slipped naked into bed. She didn’t spend too long in the hot shower. After five minutes, I heard the water stop drumming against the tiles and minutes later she emerged, towelling her nakedness, hair wet and smooth skin pink from the heat. Three days before I would probably have pounced on her before she even got to the bed.

But tonight I waited for her to make the first move…

XXX

Naomi

I know something is up. Something more than the recent near catastrophic stop at the ‘Bates Motel’. I was as badly frightened as Emily was, its just that I have an inbuilt defence mechanism which prevents other people seeing it as obviously. So I made lots of allowances for her for a couple of days after. No pressure for sex, in case the very idea of it conjured up images of what might have happened to us both. I drove long and hard to put an impressive distance between us and that shitty stop over. Even if it meant missing a lot of the bleak grandeur of the Nullabor. The road snakes along the ocean on one side, so its not just uninterrupted views of red soil and scrub. I intended, when I planned this trip, to savour the savage remoteness of this part of my journey, but what the hell...I kicked myself into putting some mileage behind us quickly. The Nullabor will always be there I told myself…

But tonight I intended to break the atmosphere of sadness which seems to have overtaken us both. Sex is something I’m good at...and its hardly a chore to make love to my little brunette, now is it?

I asked her to shower first, then rushed my own. When I came out of the bathroom she was sitting up in ned with the single sheet tucked under her chin. She looked for all the world like a child in the soft glow from the bedside lamp. Taking a deep breath, I dropped my damp towel on the chair and slipped into bed beside her….

XXX

Fifteen minutes later, I fell onto my back and looked up at the ceiling, wondering if I’d lost my touch completely.

Don’t get me wrong. Emily initially responded to my caresses like she always did. Soft sighs and that little jerk of her whole body when I slip my hand between her thighs. Its not as if she wasn’t wet, or receptive to my lovemaking. Her kisses were as soft as ever and her nails still gripped my hands expectantly as I dipped my head between her legs and began to lap her. Her thighs moved in the same way when I used my fingers to increase the sensation of my tongue inside her. She made the same, almost helpless little noises at the back of her throat as I built the speed and depth of my penetration. I thought for one glorious moment that I had her back...right at the point when her back would arch and she would thrash wildly under my deliberate movements.

And then….and then...she went and faked it.

Yeah, you heard me right. Emily Fitch faked her orgasm.

If there is a worse way to have your ego trashed, I don’t want to know it. OK, I know us girls fake it a lot with guys. My experience with gristle is vanishingly small, but my best friend at school, Emily Tucker, used to enjoy giving me all the grisly details of her latest fuck buddies inadequacies. And I suppose if I’m honest with myself, I have faked an orgasm or two myself. But I had an excuse back then...Inverleigh being a bit of a desert for hot, willing dykes, I had to content myself on several occasions with an attractive but basically arrow straight pillow princess. Fun enough to use as a blow up doll for teenage lesbian practice, but normally utterly useless when asked to return the favour. I don’t deliberately set out to hurt peoples feelings (despite my undeserved reputation), so a pretend climax relieved me of the need to lay there for hours while they clumsily pretended to enjoy going down on me.

But this is different. Emily isn’t just some straight girl detouring briefly in the flowery dell. She’s full on gay. I should know, because I woke up the passionate soul under that demure exterior some time ago. She loves sex..and up to tonight anyway..she loved it with me.

But I know a fake orgasm when I witness it.

So what do I do about it?

The answer apparently, after a few minutes worry, is nothing. After a short cuddle and some whispered words of thanks from her (what for?) Emily rolled onto her side and in seconds it seemed, I could hear her breathing even out as she slept.

Sleep didn’t come so easily to me. Not for a while in fact.

XXX

Emily

She knows, I thought dully, as I waited for sleep to finally claim me. She knows I faked it. 

Its not like I’m the worlds most experienced courtesan, is it? Making love with Naomi was always passionate, always satisfying for me before. She knew every button to press and I was eager for her to find new ways every night to excite me. The future stretched in front of us was paved with delicious possibilities. So why the fuck was I, just at the point where I’m usually letting go and allowing her tongue and fingers to drive me over the edge, unable to get there?

Its like there’s a total mental block. The build up is the same...her skills and obvious delight at my responses is still there. My body wants to let go and enjoy, before returning the favour eagerly, but my treacherous brain seems to want to spoil the party. I sort of knew, even as she was kissing me tenderly and slowly stroking my body right at the start, that it was going to be pointless. This feeling of self disgust and anger at my own weakness is nibbling away at my fragile self esteem. They say sex is twenty per cent physical and eighty per cent mental, don’t they?

I make them right.

So while my lover tosses and turns beside me, murmuring indistinct stuff in her disturbed sleep (I’m guessing a lot of frustration is involved seeing as how I didn’t return any favours tonight) I’m lying on my back worrying that not only have I let her down as a back up partner, but now I’m screwing up the best bit of our fledgling relationship by failing to enjoy sex.

For the first time since we drove away from my house, doubts about whether this whole thing will work out are tormenting me. What if she tires quickly of my lack of desire, what if we get to Perth and she decides she’s been my white knight long enough and dumps me in a strange city...what if...what if?

Maybe it would be better if I just left her now. Slipped away in the early hours while she’s sleeping. The rail station is only a mile from here...I saw it on the map in reception when we checked in. Maybe Naomi would be better off finishing this journey as she intended to. Alone…

XXX


	7. Seven

Emily

Well, I didn’t. Leave Naomi that is. I got up in the morning as usual, avoiding our normal early morning cuddle by getting into the shower while she was still half asleep. I seem to have recovered the ability to pretend. Like when I was at home and had to endure an early morning interrogation by my parents about how my ‘wonderful’ date the night before had gone. I could forget, at least temporarily, the reality of a boring evening, smiling and making small talk with a badly educated rube who was just trying to get me getting drunk enough so he could make a move on me. My sister was absolutely no help in that regard. Usually within a few minutes of the last lager being swallowed, she was doing some of her own...swallowing... that is. Whilst I fended off the unlucky second prize winner, she was actually enjoying herself by getting to the point of the date as it were. But I just I lied to my parents, lied to Katie and lied to myself...a lot.

Seems like I’m starting that sterile cycle all over again.

After a while of course...even my parents learned to keep the post mortems to a bare minimum. It just wasn’t working. Almost none of my first dates ever led to a second and still less a third. I just wasn’t interested in the guys that were interested in me. Losing the will to participate in the whole charade became part of my psyche. My expressions might have been mobile and human, but I was dying inside every day.

Until Naomi.

Until that magical night when a visitor from another world with soft lips, kind eyes and skilful hands changed my world forever...or so I thought. 

Except that now... after the ‘incident’ at the diner... all those self doubts and inner fears have resurfaced with a vengeance. Naomi has been wonderful...truly wonderful. But I seem to have swapped one safe and protective environment for another, albeit one in which I am obviously valued and wanted by the person sharing my bed. Which in a strange and unaccountable way, makes it somehow worse. Naomi has been my saviour in more ways than just the obvious one. But a single violent blip in our journey has brought all my doubts and lack of self worth to the top again. Is this what I left home for? To substitute one protective shelter from the world for another? I was supposed to be striking out on my own...finding my inner strength. Instead I’m totally reliant on Naomi it seems. It’s making me very, very uncomfortable.

I have no answer to the question of what I should do about it, so I just do what I always do when confronted by an uncomfortable reality, I pretend its not there. Pretend to be the girl she obviously wants. The junior partner, the pupil...the passenger.

Standing in the shower this morning with the water cascading over my head, I realise I’m hurting her without knowing what to do about it, I almost broke down. Almost came out of the bathroom, sat on the bed beside her and told her the plain truth. That I’m confused all over again. That I love her for caring, but hate that I need her protection.

But the coward in me won out yet again. Instead of doing that, I smiled at her sleepy morning face when I came back into the room, ignored her quickly masked look of disappointment when she realised I was already up and washed, then evaded her half hearted grab at my towel. All classic Emily moves.

“Come back to bed Em?” she said throatily “get nice and dirty with me again...we can always shower together before we hit the road?”

Her sleepy smile almost made me do just that.

It would have been so easy to give in, to let her distract me with sex. But I couldn’t. Faking it last night was difficult. But doing it again in the harsh light of a West Australia morning was too damned hard altogether. I didn’t trust myself to be that good at acting. If she wasn’t fooled then….

So instead I smiled again brightly, ruffled her bed hair and made a lame excuse about starving to death unless I got a proper breakfast inside me. I grabbed a tee and jeans from the chair and fled back into the bathroom to get dressed. Yet another thing which must have flagged up how badly things have suddenly gone wrong between us. Since when did I get dressed in private? I suppose at least it spared me the inevitable pained look on her face at my crass deflection.

By the time I emerged with my hair brushed and tied into a practical pony tail, she was on her stomach again, facing away from me. The silence was telling.

“I’ll get us some food for breakfast Naoms, yeah?” I muttered, standing at the door of the room. In reality, the last thing I wanted was to stuff my face, but I needed to get out of that claustrophobic motel bedroom.

“Not really hungry...” was the muffled reply “You go...I’ll have a shower”

I closed the door quietly. For the first time since she’d smiled at me on that dark, deserted road at midnight, I sensed distance in her tone. Shit.

XXX

Naomi

I don’t know what the fuck is up with Emily, but after last nights little charade, I’ve gone from puzzled to majorly pissed off. I know it was traumatic, coming up against that rancid crew like that. But we’d got away with it unharmed, hadn’t we?

I remembered a time when a girl I was seeing back in Inverleigh got aggressively groped by some pissed up hayseed in a bar. I was in the toilets at the time, giving myself a proper wash and brush up in anticipation of a good old knee trembler in the alley later. Lucy (was that her name…?) had been teasing me for about an hour with lurid whispers and groping hands as we stood at the bar, flirting like crazy. I suppose looking back it was a bit ‘out there’ for my provincial home town, being so full on gay in front of strangers. This guy had been in a group of twenty something out of towners who were celebrating one of their numbers success at work or something. I didn’t really have much interest in their loud and raucous drinking games and endless calls for shots. I was on a definite promise with the green eyed redhead and the only thing I was focused on was getting her alone, then removing those string like knickers I could feel under her cotton dress as we swayed and giggled together with my hand on her rear. Like I said, Inverleigh was a bit of a desert for hot dykes, so this one wasn’t slipping through my fingers, I decided (pun intended). We were long past the polite introduction stage and well into ‘your place or mine’ territory by then. The club was rammed with bodies and I desperately needed to get her somewhere I could explore that creamy body properly. The alley would do for hors d’ouvres...the main course would be on my double bed for most of the night with any luck.

But as I swayed slightly, walking out of the ladies with a hopeful smirk on my face, I could hear cheering coming from the corner where we’d been standing. I pushed my way through a crowd of curious clubbers to find Lucy surrounded by the drunk strangers. Worse still, one of them, braver than the rest, had obviously decided to try some not so gentle physical persuasion after no doubt being stimulated by our inebriated PDA’s. He had his arm over Lucy’s shoulder and was nuzzling her neck. And his other hand was copping a proper feel of the gorgeous tits I had just been daydreaming about as I straightened my hair in front of the restroom mirror.

I saw red. And it wasn’t her fucking hair.

Normally I would have used my favoured weapon against random gropers. Sarcasm. Knocking cocky males down to size was a bit of a speciality of mine. Quite a few hopeful guys at college and school had been reduced to muttering fools by the sort of cock wilting wit I can provide if provoked.

But the place was noisy, crowded and lover boy didn’t look like the sort of guy who would respond well to withering sarcasm. So I tried a bit of direct action. I pushed through the crowd and, while he was still trying to persuade a clearly disgusted Lucy that the way of the cock was the true path, I used my heel to drive my point home on his ankle...hard.

So hard in fact, it looked like I’d drawn blood. For about a millisecond, he looked at me in surprise. Then no doubt agonising pain distracted him big time.

Releasing Lucy, who fell against me, he spun away dropping his pint glass on the hard floor as he did. I think if there had been more room...and his mates had been a bit more sympathetic to his pain... I might have been in a lot of trouble there. But as the bouncers rushed over at the sound of breaking glass and his yell of distress (no doubt putting two and two together and getting five) I grabbed Lucy and we fled the club pretty damned quick.

The adrenaline rush from rescuing ‘my’ girl combined with the euphoric high from getting away with using extreme violence on the groper had a really good effect on me and my date’s libido. The alley was out of course, just in case the boob squeezer got the use of his legs back quickly, but a deserted doorway at the closed down cinema two blocks way got some serious vertical girl on girl action for about ten minutes. Lets just say the rest of the night was similarly exciting, but way more comfortable on my soft bed.

But that was then and this is now...

I’m puzzled as to why, having escaped assault and probably worse from the lunks at that truck stop miles back, the same can’t be said for the way Emily is behaving towards me. OK, not everyone gets an instant sexual rush from avoiding danger, but what the fuck?

Emily’s behaving as if I was the potential rapist. Faking it last night is one thing (and a thing I’m not at all comfortable with by the way) but avoiding sex or contact altogether this morning? Isn’t this supposed to be the honeymoon period in our relationship? You know...wall to wall sex?

For the first time since I literally picked her up on the road, I have some doubts about where this...and we...are heading.

But unlike Emily...I don’t bottle things up. Whatever is bothering her I need to know what it is. If I’d wanted a platonic pillion passenger (I didn’t) I could have given a lift to anyone along the way. But I thought we had something special going on here. Something more than casual sex and good conversation. So I showered and dressed quickly, packing up all my own stuff in the side pannier, which I’d unhooked from the bike last night. Emily’s things I folded neatly and put on the dresser, right where she’s going see it when she comes back from her breakfast. 

And then I waited...and waited...and fucking waited.

It was almost an hour later... an hour during which my patience was stretched as tightly as a drum skin, that the key finally went in the lock. No one takes a fucking hour to eat breakfast on their own...no one. Wherever she’d been and whatever she’d been up to, I wanted to know.

The door opened and she came in, holding two cups of coffee in those cardboard cups with a stupid plastic tray between them. I saw her eyes take in my readiness to leave and the pile of her clothing on the side. I waited for a second...just enough time for her to register the fact that it was just her clothes neatly folded. She stood in the doorway, looking like she was about to say something, but nothing came out when she opened her mouth. The coffee steamed silently in the cups and we stared at each other. One of us needed to speak...I suppose it would be me then... 

XXX

Emily

I’m not totally stupid despite appearances. I knew an hour was a ridiculous time to be away from our room. I’d not even had any breakfast. My stomach for once wasn’t clamouring for fuel. Too many random thoughts spinning through my head. I walked away from the motel intending to just clear my mind and work out what I was going to do. But within 5 minutes, I realised I wasn’t just wandering aimlessly. I was walking at a good pace in one direction. Like my body was on autopilot and my head was just following it.

‘Station 1km’ the sign said.

Ten minutes later I found myself standing next to the building. People were already rushing in and out of the archway towards the booking kiosks. I stopped and stared at all the activity. People with busy lives, busy days ahead. People with purpose and a reason to hurry. Normal people. Perth was less than a hundred kilometres away...just a commuter hop for most of these clones. So why was I here?

I knew the answer. It was the same answer to the question about why my savings book and phone were in my jeans pocket. Hardly necessary for a trip to the cafe for breakfast, were they? Without consciously deciding...I had picked up the bare minimum of items to make a quick getaway.

I stood there outside that bustling station for another half an hour. Undecided. It would have been so easy to have just disappeared into the crowds of commuters. Bought a one way ticket to Perth and let the train carry me away from Naomi. Away from my doubts and indecision.

But I couldn’t.

I still don’t know why exactly. Part self loathing for even considering just running off and abandoning her without a word. Part fear at what I would face when the train stopped at the end of the line. And part heartache...because abandoning Naomi wouldn’t really solve anything. It was hardly her fault I was so fucking weak and confused. 

In the end, with a sigh that only I noticed...I turned round and walked slowly back. I knew for a fact she would be up and dressed by now. She would have noticed my extended absence and would be worried. Upset. Maybe she’d even looked through my things and seen that my passbook and phone were missing?  
I hurried a bit more after I’d bought two coffees from the kiosk near the motel. Maybe if I got back now, I might be lucky and find her still asleep on her stomach. Enough time for me to put down the coffee, take off my clothes and slip into bed with her. My doubts were still there, but I wasn’t ready to break away. Not yet.

When I unlocked the door and opened it, I knew straight away that my little daydream was just that. It disappeared as soon as I locked eyes with Naomi. She was sitting on the made up bed, her leather pannier zipped and packed beside her. My clothes and bag were on the side table, folded neatly.

I opened my mouth to say something, but the words choked in my throat. I saw then that she knew...knew about my aborted treachery.

“Station closed then was it?” Naomi said tightly. The sarcasm was biting.

“Er...no...what station?” I said unconvincingly.

“The station you’ve just been to...you have been to the station, haven’t you Emily?” she said, still in a low voice. I guess I wasn’t going to get yelled at. I suppose that was something?

I wanted to lie...to say something stupid about long queues at the kiosk, but the untruth wouldn’t form in my mouth. She fucking knows Emily, my conscience jabbed at me. Be fucking honest with her...go on, now’s your chance.

“Yeah” I said quietly “I did...but I couldn’t….”

“Go without buying me a coffee?...You know to say thanks for the lift...thanks for driving me half way across Australia...thanks for rescuing me from that shitty little dead end town? Or was it payment...you know for the awesome sex and all that...apart from last night of course...when you faked it ?”

Her voice was taking on a higher tone now. Cold and brittle. I put down the cups before I dropped them. My hands were trembling so bad, I knew that was a high probability.

Naomi waited until I’d put the styrofoam cups down on the table before standing up. I actually flinched when she moved towards me. I think that was the thing that hurt her the most looking back. The fact that I believed she would actually hurt me. She went deathly pale and stepped back a pace.

“You think that I...that I would ever...” she gasped, holding her hand over her mouth. I could see tears in those pale blue eyes. I swallowed a sob, words still not possible. I wanted to say no...I would never think that, but in the space I left...the space where I could have made this right and rescued something precious, she occupied it instead and broke it all to pieces.

Her hand dropped to her side and I saw an expression on her face I’d not seen before. 

“I think you should go Emily...before I say something worse. I thought we had...I thought you and me...” she choked as I stood there dumbly “...obviously I was wrong. Well, its been nice and all that. I hope you find what you’re looking for in Perth. I hope I find what I’m looking for there too...but it won’t be with you. Will it? Your stuff is there...” she indicated the neatly piled clothes and my leather bag. “...I’m going too, so...”

I spoke then...when it was way too late. Story of my life.

“No...Naomi no...thats not what I want….look I’ve been stupid...taking out my insecurities on you...its not you...”

“...its me...yeah I know the script Emily...heard it a thousand times from other girls. Trouble is I’ve stopped believing it. Bye”

She grabbed her pannier bag, wrenching her sleeve out of my grasp as I tried to physically stop her. I followed her out of the door, gabbling like an idiot...trying to say something...anything that would stop her. But her eyes were hard and cold when she looked at me, pushing her helmet over her head.

The bike started with a muted roar and I tried one more time to stop this whole thing from crashing around my ears.

“Naomi please...I was scared” I shouted as she revved the throttle, trying to drown me out. She backed off the power for a second, looking at me through the open visor, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“You’re always scared...” she said flatly “...join the fucking sad and lonely club Emily”

And then she was gone. Dust swirled around me as the big Harley thundered across the car park and out onto the highway.

XXX


	8. Eight

Naomi

Bitch…. I think that word must have echoed in my head and inside the helmet for at least ten miles. I’d stopped crying, mainly because weeping and steering a beast like the Harley even on reasonably stable tarmac roads, is a bit risky. Falling off and getting myself badly hurt wouldn’t exactly improve the situation, now would it?

Not that the current state of affairs is exactly bonny anyway. An uncharacteristic gloom has settled over the sky. Normally I’d be expecting to be over warm if anything in my leathers this far west. Even with the cooling breeze that 70mph gives you, its still Australia after all. But the reddish clouds that have suddenly obscured the sun seem to have sucked a lot of warmth from the atmosphere. I’m guessing a dust storm somewhere out over the Nullabor has thrown up red grains of silicate into the blue skies above me and darkened things dramatically. Great, I thought...now even the fucking weather is against me. I crouched a bit lower on my seat and opened up the throttle another fraction. It wasn’t that dark, at least with my headlight on full beam and there wasn’t a huge amount of traffic on the road either...Perth’s outskirts were still quite a few miles off. So I hunkered down over the big chromed bars and gave the accelerator an extra blip. The Harley leapt forward to 80mph and stayed there.

Gradually after 25 minutes or so, the cloud moved away to the north and I was able to drop back to a more comfortable 65...leaning back a bit to ease my aching arms. I suppose it was no surprise I was over compensating. My tenseness had less to do with hard riding and more to do with what happened an hour ago.

Bitch.

How dare she stare at me as if I was going to attack her? Jesus, when have I ever given her that impression? Lunging at that greasy bastard with my Buck knife was more a desperate last resort, not something I do regularly. It might have been a futile gesture, but at least I was doing something to defend our ‘honour’? Instead of just whimpering and hiding behind someone else? It was the best I could do under the circumstances and look what thanks I got for it? A faked orgasm last night and the cold shoulder today...not to mention being regarded like a rapist when I walked towards her. I was just going to try to make physical contact with someone I’ve been sleeping with every night for fucks sake...that’s all?

She admitted she’d been to the railway station too. I’d thrown that comment in without thinking...not really believing she’d done any such thing. It shocked the hell out of me when she just agreed that she’d done it. What the actual fuck?

One bump in the road...one unpleasant (OK very) experience and suddenly she was doubting everything we’d shared? My innate sense of injustice railed at the very idea. Since when was sitting down and discussing problems with your significant other a no no?

Instead, Emily had seriously considered just leaving me flat without a word of explanation. She might have had second thoughts about going through with it...hence the coffee and the lame apology...but the fact that she’d walked all that way meant it wasn’t just a momentary impulse. Nope, it was a big fat possibility...maybe even a probability... if not today then sometime soon. And that burned.

Now I know my temper got the better of me back there and don’t think for a moment I haven’t considered doing a fast u turn and going back for her. But every mile, every minute I speed ever closer to Perth, the less it tugged at me. I’d started this journey alone. Up until I almost ran her down on that country road at midnight, everything I’d planned had gone right...now it was all out of the window. Sex aside, it was a life changing moment for me...meeting Emily Fitch. Several times over the past few days I’d found myself just looking at her, maybe asleep or when she was doing something adorable (which was quite often) and turning over in my mind the possibility this ‘thing’ we had going was more than just a pleasant and sexy hook up. The word love had even nudged its way into my brain, even though it was way too soon to admit anything like that. But it was definitely more than a casual attraction. Definitely more than the fact that she excited me in bed more than any girl I’d ever slept with.

But now she’d gone and ruined it. Backed off from me faster than a politician from an election promise. Faked her enjoyment of sex then left me in bed this morning while she went to the station intending, if not going through with, leaving me alone and ignorant.

Well, I’d stopped that being an issue now hadn’t I? I was the one who walked out on her...well rode out is more accurate I suppose. Back home in Inverleigh, anyone who stamped on my heart like Emily had was instantly a non person to me. My mother can testify how injustice makes me furious and just about impossible to reason with. 

Now Emily Fitch can too. 

I’d left her in my mirrors.The deep ache in my heart and the sick feeling in my stomach will fade eventually. It always has before....

XXX

Emily

I sat on the neatly made bed for almost an hour after Naomi left. Just looking out of the grimy window at the gradually emptying car park. Maybe she’d have second thoughts, my mind bargained hopefully. Maybe she’s just making me panic (I was) and in a few minutes that big old Harley will appear back in front of the motel room. Then I can rush outside, take off her helmet and kiss her so comprehensively, she’ll bury all that anger at my stupidity and make me hers again.

But she didn’t. I cried for a while longer, bitter at my own weakness at letting her go so easily. But crying wasn’t going to get her back, was it?

I always wanted to strike out on my own...travel alone. Well, now was my chance I pondered miserably. The best thing that has ever happened to me in my short life just left town on an oversized American motorcycle. Another golden chance wasted. 

Nice one Emily.

Eventually I dried my tears, listlessly packed the neatly piled clothes Naomi had left on the side table into my battered leather bag, then looked round the room for the last time. I could hear the maids chattering outside as they went from room to room, cleaning up. 

Time to go then….

The station was less busy mid morning, so I got a one way ticket to Perth on the next train without queuing. The fleeting impulse to buy a ticket for the opposite direction...back home to my family...was quickly squashed. I might have fucked up the best thing I’ll ever have, but going back to my mothers smug ‘I told you so’ expression and my sisters triumphant echo was never a realistic alternative. No...Naomi has gone and I may never see her again (that thought made me choke back a sob, startling the middle aged guy sitting opposite me into spilling his coffee), but I have almost $5000 dollars in savings, $150 dollars in cash and a ticket to the big city. I started making plans as I waited for the next train. 

I want her back.

XXX

Naomi

The drive through the suburbs of Perth certainly got rid of the lazy preconceptions I had about the city being small compared to Sydney or Melbourne. I seemed to be driving for ages through commuter mini towns, shopping areas and parks. I got the usual stares a lone girl on a motorcycle gets, but apart from one macho dick in a Porsche at a set of traffic lights who wanted to start some lame ass drag race (Harley’s are not really designed for back tyre burning, so I let his sorry exhaust disappear up the street), it was cool. In any case I didn’t want my first memory of Perth to be an expensive traffic citation.

In my head, I was still stupidly hoping I would see a small dark haired figure on the road side thumbing a lift. But quite apart from the chances of that being smaller than Donald Trump winning the Nobel prize for Literacy, I was still raw inside and would have probably have fucked it up anyway. But I guessed that Emily would do one of two things after I left. Take the train to Perth, or go straight back home. If she chose the latter, I would never see her again, end of. Something that made my heart thump unpleasantly in my chest even as I told myself that would probably be best all round for us. 

But the alternative...that she carries on her journey...meant there was a chance...a vanishingly small one granted...that our paths might cross again. I still don’t know whether that would be a good thing or not. I was still hurting badly.

In any case, because of the thickening traffic and the confusing street signs, I switched on the satnav and keyed in the address of the YMCA. Cheap and cheerful, thats what I needed now. A room, some food and somewhere safe to park the bike. Yeah...the Y seemed the best bet.

XXX

Across the city, Emily Fitch was scanning a free street map outside the station with a dubious expression on her face. Until she saw a familiar looking logo on one of the side panel adverts. The YMCA...yeah that would do for an affordable bed, if just for one night. Maybe then she could begin to plan properly.

XXX

Naomi

It was a much bigger building than I expected. Jewell House...11 floors. Modern and with a fair bit of obviously well cared for gardens round it. More like a hotel than a hostel. I’d taken the time to phone ahead for a room and luckily they had a couple of singles left. I took the one on the top floor as the other was on the first floor, right over the kitchens apparently. I don’t object to smelling freshly cooked food, but where there is a kitchen, there are waste bins. And Perth is the warmest capital city in Australia….

I even found somewhere quiet but secure to park the bike. Even better...after I’d fielded the inevitable questions from the guy who was supervising vehicle parking, it turned out he was a Harley fan. Told me there was an independent American motorcycle specialists just across the Swan River on the Albany Highway. Less than a couple of kilometres away. Perfect, I thought...I’ll get settled in my room, then call the repair shop. There wasn’t a lot wrong with the beast, but after a thousand kilometres or more of hard riding...it would definitely be wise to have my darling serviced and checked over. I had no idea at that stage if Perth was going to be my final destination. After all, up until this morning I thought all my plans would involve two of us...and look how that worked out?

Of course, the moment I stopped doing practical things like checking in, arranging for the bike to be collected on a trailer next day and sorting out where I was going to eat lunch...my thoughts turned to Emily Fitch. 

I’d been pretty good at pretending it was all imagination up to that point. Trying to airbrush her out of my life. I had nothing on the bike or in the panniers to remind me of her...but she was everywhere nevertheless. I could feel her presence even though she was almost certainly miles away from me. Probably checked into another cheap motel across the city somewhere. With her looks it wouldn’t take long for her to attract attention anyway. She might have been a fish out of water, being a gay girl in that town I can’t even remember the name of now. But here... In the big city?...The first attractive dyke with a working gaydar will be on her like a wasp on an apple. 

The fact that I burned some more at that thought made me leave my healthy salad lunch on the diner table hardly touched. The ache in my stomach had nothing to do with hunger.

At about four, after I’d wasted a couple of hours getting my clothes washed and dried, then ironed and folded away, I mooched around the area for a while, just getting my bearings. Perth Hospital was a block or so away...not that I intended to make use of their facilities if at all possible, but it was comforting to know if I did fall off the Harley in the city, help was close by.

Being the Y. there were no end of people milling about downstairs in the big lobby. Most my age or older, but a few genuine students too. I missed out on a gap year, mainly because I gave up the idea of uni to save for the Harley, but I recognised the looks on their faces. Chinese, American, Poms...loads of nationalities mixing and chattering in all sorts of exotic languages. It was odd...although it felt totally alien, it also felt like coming home. This is what I left Inverleigh for. Different cultures, different people. The world.

By the time I’d bought a couple of new tops and a pair of leggings in the mall down the street, I felt like having a proper drink. Because of the trauma of the ‘Bates Motel’ I’d pretty much sworn off since. Now, showered, changed and with at least some food inside me, I braved the crowded bar across the street. Its odd...at home in Inverleigh, wherever you went there was someone you knew, even just to say “Hi” to and wave. But here, despite the crowds, it was as if I was totally alone. No one waved or said hello...no one called me over with a cold drink in their hand. For the first time since I’d told myself things would be OK, I wondered if they ever would be again. I’d intended to hit the pubs and bars with Emily when we got here. Get a nice beer buzz on, then drag her back to a comfortable double bed to continue her education.

I got attention of course. I’m not totally unattractive and my still blonde hair (although I made a mental note to find a decent hairdressers tomorrow to top up my peroxide quota) makes me stand out a little. The tight tee I had on might have had something to do with it I suppose. Not wearing a bra had been fine on the road, but in this crush of twenty something humanity, I was getting more looks below chin height than I was completely comfortable with. I fended off the two guys who eventually tried to corner me easily enough. I always find it simpler to just be up front about my sexuality. Saves time.

“Sorry guys...flattering that you care…,but I play for the other team. Sorry about that?”

It worked like a charm. They weren’t going to waste time and dollars or booze on a pointless exercise. They grinned sheepishly and went off in search of easier prey. The ginger headed one turned back and stage whispered to me as they went.

“Shame about that blondie...maybe you’d be better off in the bar across the street? Lots of lovely ladies in there...and they all play for your team?”

I smiled gratefully at him. Maybe he wasn’t such an asshole after all?

But after the trauma of this morning and the long hot ride, I wasn’t about to stay up till three in some gay bar, attractive as the idea was. Part of it was exhaustion, but the other part was a nagging feeling that it was way to soon to start thinking about replacing Emily with some random, however pretty. My heart still thumped when I thought about her face...so I drank the last of my free lager and went back to my lonely room. Luckily I was more tired than I thought, so within half an hour, with the sounds of the city echoing up from the street a hundred feet below, I dropped off quickly, Maybe tomorrow would be better?

XXX

Emily

The room was fine, but I had to close the window and put the aircon on. Fucking kitchen right below my window? I’d tried to haggle for a change, but the girl on reception said the only other room, on the top floor and the other side of the building, had been taken just a few minutes before I phoned. I took a moment to hope whoever took it had a rough nights sleep before grudgingly accepting this one. It was getting a bit late to find anywhere else and my bag was getting heavy. I’d got used to letting the Harley take the strain. The only time I carried my bag before, was to and from the bike. 

But that was a minor detail compared to the problems I now faced. Strange city, full of strangers..none of whom seemed to want to spare me a glance, except when I got under their feet. Since I left my home town, I’d almost forgotten that short people and crowds don’t mix. And if I was honest...which is something I need to do more of from now on...being with Naomi had been like living in a warm and comforting bubble. It was me and her...with the world somewhere out there...scary but not too scary.

Now I’m on my own and I’m starting to get those doubts that haunt me most days. The prospect of seeing Naomi again frightens the crap out of me, but I’m clinging to it nevertheless. I’m hoping she’ll be in the city somewhere close, even if that is a stupid fantasy. I never realised just how big a city could be until the train was rumbling through the seemingly endless suburbs. Let alone the actual city centre. Noisy, busy and full of people who don’t know me from a bar of soap.

So I decided to just have a burger in the Wendy’s next door, fill up on cholesterol and fries, then shower and bed.

With the window closed, and the aircon making the room comfortable, it wasn’t long before my eyes drooped and I slipped out of consciousness. My last thought was of my blonde saviour. I’ve got to find her...simple as that.

XXX

Three kilometres away, a head poked out from behind the engine block of the Indian Chief motorcycle on a bench. The girl tossed her head and her pony tail swished away from her face. Smudges of engine oil dotted her cheeks, but she didn’t look overly concerned. A stranger looking in on the scene might have done a double take at the incongruity of such a stunning girl carrying out complex surgery on the huge engine.

But this was no ordinary girl. Her blue eyes blazed as the guy opposite her threw a cloth at her face.

“Stop fucking about Tone...this fucker has to be back on the bike by tomorrow morning...and thanks by the way for booking a collection at 10 tomorrow. You know I’m on a promise with Jasmine tonight...I have plans for that frankly spectacular arse….”

The tall guy in matching green overalls grinned unapologetically. His equally startling blue eyes held hers as she tossed the greasy rag back.

“Chill out Eff...we need the money and you know you love to get your hands on a Road King...even if ‘Queens’ are your speciality...anyway...the owner is a girl, little sister so maybe soft pedal a bit on the delicious Jasmine tonight?...Biker chicks are much more your style?”

The girl winced at her brothers idle sexism, but let it pass.

“Yeah, right...and you KNOW how I love sixteen stone dykes with stripy eyebrows..?”

Back in the land of nod...a biker chick who was definitely NOT sixteen stone and with eyebrows decidedly untouched by a razor, slept on in her rented bed.

XXX


	9. Nine

Naomi.

Well, despite my disturbed sleep (sly little vignettes about ‘you know who’ interrupting my exhausted repose regularly), I woke up this morning reasonably refreshed. Being on the top floor at least gave me some peace and I briefly thanked whichever deity looks after me for granting N Campbell (Miss) first choice of single rooms yesterday. I felt a moments pity for whoever got the short straw and the apartment on the first floor over the kitchen. Waking up to rancid bin odours is not nice. Been there, done that.

Still, I reasoned...whoever it was would probably be like me anyway...off today or the next, so it wasn’t as if they were going to suffer it for long, was it? That thought obviously led to another darker one...where exactly had Emily Fitch slept last night?

I suppressed the small pang of residual anger at her behaviour, which preceded the second stab of pure undiluted jealousy at the prospect of her possibly having spent the night screwing some lucky local. OK, it was pretty unlikely, given her timidity, I knew that. But it wouldn’t be long in coming either. She might have been an oddity back in tumble weed creek as the only gay in the village, but in the city? Beautiful and sexy little brunettes are in short supply everywhere and it wouldn’t only be my gaydar that clanged the first time Emily slipped into a girls only bar and fluttered those impressive eyelashes at the clientele. She’d be fighting them off with a stick by closing time. Nothing more certain.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to think of more practical things instead, if only to preserve my wavering sanity. I’d left her in that motel. I had no way of knowing if she’d even continued her journey here….you know, that sort of self deluding stuff? But practical matters won out in the end. I got up, showered and changed into a clean white tee (this time reluctantly slipping a bra on first) and a fresh pair of blue 501’s. I had a pair of soft leather moccasins in my pannier case and it was a relief not to have to wear heavy boots today after all the long and dusty days on the road. I made a mental note to buy some leather treatment today. My jacket and trousers were looking a bit second hand and the boots were well overdue a proper polish. 

After nipping downstairs to the cafeteria (and again, briefly considering I was losing my mind when a small figure with familiar hair exited the other side of the room as I entered…) I had breakfast. Don’t be stupid Naomi, I chided myself as I queued for bacon rolls and a large coffee. As if she would be here...it was just someone who reminded you of her. I sighed heavily as it seemed like it would be a while before I got Emily Fitch out of my mind. 

Sitting alone, I quickly swallowed the last of the delicious bap then drank the coffee down to the dregs. It was hardly barrista standard, but it was hot, dark and sweet. Good enough to kick start my day.

I glanced at my plain but expensive Hamilton watch (a parting gift from mama dearest) as the crowds in the room started to thin. Suddenly everyone looked like they had somewhere urgent to go. Japanese and Chinese students chattering and checking their phones incessantly...Brits and Americans teasing each other and noisily planning the days adventures. I felt another pang...this time of regret and loneliness. They all had something to do and, more importantly someone to do it with. For the first time since I left Inverleigh, I felt a bit of homesickness. All alone in a strange city. I thought thats what I wanted. But meeting Emily had put a spoke in that particular wheel, hadn’t it? For the first time in my life I’d felt truly at home with someone. Someone I’d grown to like a lot and depend on.

Yeah and look how that worked out, my cynical mind jeered at me. First sign of trouble and she starts looking at you as if you’re a serial killer. Better on your own Naomi Campbell...there are still hundreds of sexy and available girls out there in Perth who’ll drop their silky underwear for a bit of biker rough...get off your arse and find one...what’s wrong with screwing your way to recovery….that waitress in the town you can’t remember was grateful enough for my busy fingers, I muttered quietly?

I shook my head at my own crudity, however softly spoken, gaining a puzzled look from the middle aged woman dispensing coffee behind the counter. I flashed her a rueful half smile. Probably used to lonely travellers talking to themselves…

But the disturbing feeling of emptiness and loss was still with me as I crossed reception and asked the tall girl on duty how to get out to the rear parking area. The guy who’d been so helpful yesterday with the bike was probably off duty this early and I needed to take the keys out back so I could wait for the engineer to arrive with the flatbed trailer. I was grateful for my foresight in arranging a collection. It meant I could concentrate on exploring Perth straight off. When the Harley was good as new again, I could always take a city bus over to the garage, pick it up and leave direct from there. The Y was a good central starting point for a couple of cheap nights sleep, but with my funds reducing by the day, I knew I’d have to find somewhere more permanent to lay my head eventually. My original plan was to spend a few months in Perth doing some part time work maybe, before heading back out onto the road. Maybe north this time?

Anyway, the girl smiled professionally at my request and directed me through the lobby. After going through three doors and two corridors, I finally exited the building into the service area out back. I could see the Harley straight off, parked against the building. The guy who’d met me here yesterday had even thrown a thin sheet of grey plastic over the bike. I made another mental note to thank him with a six pack if I saw him again.

Walking over, I just had time to pull off the temporary cover and fold it before the sound of a diesel motor alerted me to the arrival of the tow truck. Glancing over my shoulder, I waved casually to the barely visible driver, who was wearing a baseball cap pulled low over his face. He waved back and the big truck expertly manoeuvred around so that the low level trailer he was towing could be backed up to where I was standing.

The door of the truck opened and I opened my mouth to say something bland.

And then, as he...who turned out to be very definitely a she...pulled off the cap and tossed out a mane of soft brown hair I stopped with my mouth open. Two astonishingly blue eyes regarded me with some amusement as I gawped at her stupidly. My gaydar was clanging like a five alarm fire as she smirked at me.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I thought..she’s fucking gorgeous. Quickly followed by, get a grip Campbell...so she’s well fit...stop staring like a stalker.

“Miss Campbell?” she drawled in an accent that was as far from Australian as its possible to get ...“I’m Effy...Effy Stonem?..Here to pick up your bike for that service?”

I closed my mouth with a snap and tried to compose myself. Those blue eyes were still holding mine and the smirk was still on that amazing face. I swallowed thickly. The rest of her, although hidden under an oil smudged pair of too big overalls, was obviously as hot as her face.

“Err...uh...hi, I mean...uh yeah...its Naomi...Naomi Campbell…?”

Not a flicker of recognition at the use of my infamous name. Unlike Emily, there was no amused giggle either. Just a calm nod of understanding and the faintest crinkle of her eyes.

“Right...well, shall we then...Naomi?” she said slowly, turning to close the door of the truck. Forgive me your honour, I had a good long perv at her tight little behind as she bent to release the securing cables on the trailer.

I managed to regain the use of my limbs long enough to unlock the bike and wheel it over to the trailer, which Effy was quickly preparing to accept the Harley. She lowered a single steel ramp from the back and waited for me to line up the bike. I had time to admire the swell of two small but perfectly formed breasts as she leaned lower, adjusting the ramp exactly in line with my front tyre. Inevitably, I got caught looking, but her expression didn’t change. Just that small smirk, which for once I didn’t find irritating. Usually, if I thought I was being laughed at, no matter how subtly, my inner bitch is easily woken. But this time it stayed asleep.

I thought we might struggle to get the bike up the ramp, even though she’d lowered it as shallowly as possible. The Harley is a 600lb monster and never easy to man handle without power. But that slim body hid surprising strength. I stood at the back and pushed while she leaned forward from the trailer and pulled at the bars. The bike went up in one smooth go.

Once this Effy character had secured the Harley with sturdy canvas straps and a lock on the back wheel, I breathed a bit easier. This girl certainly knew want she was doing around heavy machinery. If the spectre of Emily Fitch hadn’t been haunting me, I would probably have pulled out one of my usual cheesy pickup lines. I’m not a serial seducer by any means, but if she wasn’t gay, I’m Malcolm fucking Turnbull. 

“Yeah and probably loved up with some equally stunning Perth princess” I almost said out loud as I stood beside the truck while she filled out the paperwork. Luckily that thought stayed in my head.

The girl jumped down from the cab as I looked around the empty compound and handed me a receipt for the collection and the quote for the work I’d asked for. I deliberately made myself smother the automatic wince at the bill, but I suppose it was reasonable enough. 

I looked up to see her staring at me intently. Those eyes were fucking hypnotic I decided there and then. Deep as the sea and twice as fucking mysterious. I wonder what they look like when she’s in bed popped into my brain and I almost fucking blushed at my overactive imagination. Keep it in your pants Naomi, I scolded myself.

“Well, thats me...what are you gonna do for transport while the Harley is off the road?” she asked.

“Public transport, I guess...its my first time in Perth, so I thought I’d check out the bars and pubs first?”

“Lots to do and see here Naomi” she said softly...”a pretty girl can get herself into a lot of trouble without really trying...” the smirk was back..

Fuck...that was definitely a flirt, I decided. I opened my mouth to hit on her, regardless of the nagging Emily Fitch reminder my brain sent me. But she beat me to it.

“...but I’m available for guided tours...if you’re interested...and brave enough?”

My mouth stayed open, but instead of the smart remark my head wanted to send, I found myself just nodding like one of those fucking dogs sales reps used to put on their parcel shelves.

“Err...that would be cool (cool Naomi?)...I mean, I’d like that...when are you...” I stuttered

She jumped up into the cab and the door slammed before she leaned out of the window and grinned cheekily down at me.

“You look like a girl who enjoys a dare Naomi...I finish work at 5 and my apartment is right over the shop...be there at 7?...Oh, and dress to impress, babe? Coz...you know, I don’t put out for any old biker chick, yeah?””

The truck started and I stood frozen to the spot as it quickly disappeared out of the compound.

Did she just say what I thought she said?

XXX

Above the compound, a small but equally perfectly formed dark eyed beauty looked sadly down at the lone blonde figure standing in the dust. The window was closed, but she was in no doubt about what she’d just seen if not heard.

Naomi had been pulled….

XXX


	10. Ten

Emily

I sat on the bed and stared at the blank wall for a bit after leaving the window. My first instinct, when I saw who it was in the back compound, was to bang on the glass to attract her attention. Luckily I didn’t. I watched the whole scene play out with mounting anxiety. First Naomi walking to her bike and pulling off the grey cover, then her looking round the yard as if waiting for something.

Someone as it turned out. When the truck arrived and I saw the American Motorcycles logo on the doors, I got a real lift. If Naomi was sending the bike somewhere for repair, it meant not only was she in the same building as me, but was likely to stay here even if it was for just a couple of days, I have no idea what needs to be done to a Harley after several weeks of hard riding, but I guessed it wasn’t a couple of hours job. So instead of obeying my instincts and either hammering on the window or (horror of horrors) opening it at the risk of inhaling this mornings rancid breakfast left overs, I waited.

Lucky for me as it turned out.

The slim grease monkey in overalls who jumped down from the cab slipped off an oil smudged baseball cap with the same logo as the truck and shook out a substantial mane of lustrous brown hair. Well...unless she was fresh off the set of the Aussie version of Sons of Anarchy, this was indeed the mechanic sent to collect the bike.

I watched the silent (to me anyway) interaction below with growing dismay. I might be late to this whole gay thing, but my gaydar is getting better every day. Right then it was howling like an air raid siren. Blue eyes fenced with blue eyes and I saw the smirk on the mechanics face when Naomi said something. I know flirting when I fucking see it. My heart hit my shoes.

The saner part of my brain told me not to be so defeatist. However mad Naomi had been at me for doubting her, I found it hard to believe she would move on to some random quite as quickly. She told me even just before she left, that she still had strong feelings for me. You can’t just switch that off for the first pair of admittedly attractive blue eyes you come across, can you?

Apparently you can.

I saw the girl give Naomi some headed paperwork before they both manhandled the big beast up the ramp she had lowered from the trailer. Even though the girl looked slight of build, there was obviously considerable strength in that body. I hated her for that already. No doubt Naomi would look at her and compare it with my own recent fragility in the face of danger. This girl didn’t look the backing down sort at all. Bitch.

One nil to the beautiful stranger.

The icing on the cake was the final conversation I observed. Not that I could hear a thing through the double glazing, but the talking was more animated and less businesslike and as the girl mechanic leaned out of her truck window, I saw Naomi’s eyed widen at what she’d said. Then my ex turned away towards the building as the diesel truck crunched through the gravel in a tight turn, heading for the exit gates.

Naomi’s face was flushed and excited. The sick feeling in my stomach grew as she looked carefully at the folded paper in her hand and a sly grin spread over her face.

I didn’t need a map to understand what had just happened. Naomi had been hit on...and it didn’t look like she was struggling much. Fucking great, I thought...just what I need...beautiful competition.

XXX

Naomi

Well...that was a nice surprise I thought, as I went back up to my room to stash the invoice and pick up some cash. A date, no less. 

My conscience pricked me several times as I waited for the lift. Emily Fitch was still very much on my mind, but who knew where she was now? She could be home already, or right across the city making eyes at some stranger too. Either way I had to try to forget those magnetic brown eyes. Or at least try to.

I stared at the reflection of myself in the brushed aluminium of the inside of the lift doors as it shot upwards to the top floor. Maybe a bit of personal grooming required Campbell I grimaced, as I took in my road worn hair and pale complexion. Days spent behind the carbon fibre helmet hadn’t done much for my tan and even though I’m not naturally a make up princess, I could do with some improvements I guess. 

Specially as I have a hot date tonight?

The pangs of regret over breaking up with Emily mixed queasily with anticipation about tonight. This Effy Stonem girl was a bit of an enigma. Dressed like a boy, but with startling strength in those slim arms. That mane of lustrous hair hidden under the greasy baseball cap. Not to mention those eyes...fuck they were hypnotic. If Emily’s are deep and beautiful (which they definitely are) Effy’s were all knowing...piercing...as if she could see exactly what I was thinking. Thank God that’s not actually possible, considering the random erotic thoughts which riffed through my head as I watched her efficiently securing the Harley to the trailer. Guilt at being so quickly distracted by a pretty face (and arse Naomi...) competed with growing excitement at meeting someone so obviously interested in me on my first morning in Perth.

Oh...and that last comment?

Put out? My God… no stranger had ever been as forward as that with me, even back home in the dark recesses of an anonymous club. Drunk and horny, I’m as susceptible to a promise of imminent sex as anyone else. But with that casual throw away line, I was instantly hot for her. I knew I’d have to watch this one carefully. As well as being stupidly sexy, she had danger written all over her. Which of course only increased her fascination for me.

By the time the doors hissed open, I’d formulated a rough plan. My resources might be dwindling, but the Y was relatively cheap for a city centre room. I knew my mum would be good for another few hundred dollars if I got desperate, so I decided to go for broke. 

Half an hour later I was walking into a hairdressers. An hour after that, I was walking back out with my hair freshly cut and styled...and back to the subtly highlighted blonde I used to prefer back in Inverleigh. Gone were the dark roots. I liked it shortish now anyway, so a shower before I went out tonight wouldn’t do too much damage if I used a shower cap. Next stop were a couple of little boutique fashion shops near the Y. Effy had said dress to impress? Which was a worry to me. I’ve never been exactly the clothes horse type. At home it was more tight jeans or leggings with a tee or button up shirt over. Being known as the local muff muncher meant no one was surprised if I dressed a bit meh anyway. But tonight had to be different, right?

Those two words ‘put out’ rang loud and clear in my head. This Effy creature was more or less guaranteeing me a shag if I made an effort. Again I got a severe twinge of regret that I wasn’t shopping to impress a small brunette any more. But Emily was who knows where...what’s a healthy gay girl all alone in the big city gonna do when offered ‘it’ on a plate by a beautiful stranger? I swallowed my doubts.

So, after another hour of foot slogging and enduring the sideways glances of over made up sales assistants, I emerged into the lunchtime heat of a Perth summers day with three bags of goodies.

Two pretty v neck tops, a very short summer skirt and a pair of dress up heels. The tops were tighter than I usually wear, but I needed back up...because also in the bag was the most expensive item I’d bought. I found it in a second hand shop off the main street. It was a Warehouse floral jaquard shift dress in a pretty silver and blue leaf pattern. Short, so it showed off my best assets and sleeveless too. I hummed and hawed for a bit before buying it...apart from the $80 price tag, it was also higher in the neck than I normally wear, but I decided to get it anyway. Another woman was eyeing it hungrily as I held it in my hands, obviously ready to grab if I put it back on the hanger. So I shook my head at my own indecisiveness and tried it on.

Staring at myself in the tiny changing room mirror, I knew it was exactly what I wanted, Revealing without being slutty and sexy without overkill. Perfect. And one long and easily accessible zip down the back (shut up I chided my libido)… I decided there and then that tonight was definitely a bra free zone too. Time to let the girls do their job and reel this Effy in…?

All I needed to finish off was a small blue clutch bag...something I swore back in Inverleigh never to own... before I walked back to the Y with my shopping bags swinging from my hand.

Operation ‘new life’ was on…

XXX

Emily

After an hour, the blank wall opposite the bed was getting a bit samey. I sighed deeply and turned over in my mind the prospect of probably never getting Naomi back. Something I had deliberately made myself refuse to acknowledge previously. Perhaps there really was nothing left to save now? Maybe that short and intense affair on the road was something I needed to put into some sort of perspective now she was gone? Maybe I was just a pleasant diversion for her after all on that epic road trip. We’d reached the destination we’d both wanted. It was just that instead of enjoying it together, we were going to do it apart now?

My stomach felt sick at the finality of that reality.

So with that bleak last thought echoing in my head before I got my arse up off the bed, I decided there and then to actually do something instead of waiting for life to happen to me. If Naomi had moved on so smoothly, so easily...maybe I should too?

I checked my savings book balance and set my jaw in what I hoped was a determined way. Time to look after myself for a change. I think a nice haircut, a few new clothes and a night out in the big city. There was a tourist guide on the bedside table and I picked it up before I left the room. Lunch I think...somewhere better than the roadhouses I had got used to lately...and a read up on the hot spots for gay girls in Perth. Perhaps it isn’t only Naomi who can attract gorgeous locals…?

XXX

Sitting in a nice riverside cafe with a large Mocha and a croissant after two hours shopping, my feet ached like a bitch but mission had very much been accomplished. New clothes, new hair style...gone were the long brown tresses, replaced with a slightly butch bob and vivid red colouring. Looking at myself in the stylists mirror I hardly recognised the old Emily. I got some expensive blue skinnies, three new tops and a cute waist length leather jacket with zips and studs all over it. It cost me over $300 but I just couldn’t resist it. I might be a weak and feeble jelly inside, but just trying it on, with my new boyish hairstyle and even an old tee underneath, I looked like a proper tough little dyke, if I say so myself. The girl in the boutique definitely gave me the once over as I twirled in front of the mirror. Not my type at all actually, but the obvious interest did wonders for my frail confidence.

Having read the city guide, I was pleased to see that the Court bar (apparently the classy gay bar) wasn’t far from the Y. I could have gone for a louder, more club type place, but as a newbie, I wasn’t about to go full out first proper night here. Even back home, when I’d been to clubs with Katie in the nearest big town to us...the memories of all that spilled beer, clumsy chat up lines and bruises on my arse from the pinching still echoed. OK, maybe a gay club wasn’t as full on as the sort of dives Katie insisted we go to pull guys, but lets just say I fancied a quieter, gentler introduction to my new choice of nightlife. If it turned out to be shit, I could just leave and be back in my room in a few minutes. 

As it turned out, the whole ‘walk in a gay bar on my own, discretely crapping myself’ scenario I frightened myself with while I was out shopping wasn’t gonna happen anyway. No...I wasn’t as lucky as Naomi had been, being hit on by a hot girl right off, but I did get chatting to another girl in the lobby while I was waiting for the lift. I might have only been on the first floor, but my feet were aching enough for me to ignore the stairs. 

Lucky for me as it turned out.

Shreya, her name was. Obviously Asian heritage...but with a strong West Australian accent, so I guessed she was born here, even if her parents were from Mumbai or Hyderabad. She was just saying goodbye to a skinny long haired guy in garish Bermuda shorts and a ‘Fuck Trump’ red baseball cap as the lift doors opened. Not a romantic goodbye by the looks of it. More a ‘nice to have met you mate’ sort of thing. She smiled at me as I started to move past them into the elevator and after the guy had walked off, came back in to join me. 

“Good shopping trip?” she said pleasantly, watching me struggle with the multiple bags. I shrugged and gave her a weary smile.

“New image required actually...new city, so new shoes, new clothes...new haircut” I grinned back. It was nice just to shoot the breeze with someone friendly. After this morning with Naomi and the snobbish shop girls, I was well overdue some genuine human interaction.

She reached over and took two of the bags from my cramped hand.

“Here...let me give you a hand...My names Shreya…?”

I let her take the bags...its not as if I was likely to get mugged in the lift in the Y, is it? The girl was about the same height as me but even slighter in build. Her hair was black and shiny, falling over her shoulders in soft waves. Deep brown eyes regarded me as I gave her the once over. She was very pretty in that way that young Indian girls are...you know, all smooth coppery skin and brilliantly white teeth. Still, she was the first person I’d met here who actually looked into my eyes when she spoke, so I relaxed and nodded.

“I’m only on the first floor...but to be honest, I’m a bit knackered...I think my legs have given out?”

She chuckled again and I relaxed a bit more.

“So, err…?” she said, arching a curious eyebrow. I realised I hadn’t told her my name yet and flushed with embarrassment.

“Oh...uh yeah...sorry. Emily?...Emily Fitch...late of the most boring town in Victoria...hoping that Perth is a hell of lot more exciting?”

Shreya grinned again and I decided I could quite happily see that expression a lot more in future. Even though common sense told me she was a: probably straight and b: not in the least bit interested in me that way anyway. 

The lift hummed efficiently up to the first floor and she exited it with me.

“Your floor too?” I said as we walked towards my room at the back of the building.

“Nope...4th floor actually...but its hardly a biggie helping you with the bags Emily Fitch of Boringtown Victoria?”

We shared a giggler this time. I started to relax for the first time since I’d been the unwilling spectator to the little vignette in the back yard this morning.

It seemed downright unfriendly not to invite her in for a coffee...which luckily I had covered. The rooms had all the basics, like a kettle and hair-dryer, so I fished out the small jar of good quality instant I had in my bag and made us a cup each.

By the time we’d drunk it and were sitting by the window (still closed as a precaution against the kitchen stench) I’d found out quite a bit about her.

She was Indian in heritage, but not from the subcontinent. Instead, her parents were Ugandan Asians, part of the thousands who were deported to Britain back in the 60’s. They’d been children at the time, but the families were friends and inevitably, once they were teenagers, they’d got closer and in the end married. Both families were called Patel...which is a bit like Smith is in the west...pretty common. Anyway, they took an assisted passage boat to Oz, like hundreds of thousands of other Brits in the 70’s and Shreya was born in Australia, the third child of their marriage. They lived in a small place called Bunbury, some miles south of the city, where they had a grocery and tobacconist shop. So far, so predictable I guess.

Shreya said life in Bunbury was boring, provincial and stifling, so we had that in common right off. I told her about my upbringing in Victoria, my bossy twin and overbearing mother. We shared a wry smile at the similarities. I left out the personal bits about how I met Naomi, but I sort of sketched out the way I got here in broad terms. However lonely I was feeling, I wasn’t ready yet to blurt it all out to a stranger, however nice.

I could see she realised there was a lot more to the story, but she didn’t press and I was grateful for that. I did let on I was gay though...part of my determination not to fall back into my old ways, hiding who I was to just fit in. Shreya just shrugged and carried on talking. I breathed an internal sigh of relief that she was so accepting. Back home that confession, however fleeting, would have produced shock and disbelief, followed quickly by social isolation. 

Anyway...after another shared coffee, I was feeling much better about the whole Perth situation. True, Naomi was as far from me as she’d ever been...given that it looked like she had a hot date tonight at the very least. But I’d made a friend (she didn’t say anything about her own sexuality and I didn’t ask) and that was something. If she was straight...well, that was cool as well. I needed someone to just be normal with me at the moment. Being all alone in the big city was a bit daunting, however much I kidded myself with the new look Emily.

We agreed to meet up later that evening...have a few drinks in the town. She’d been in Perth for a month, working part time in the building next door’s cafeteria, waiting tables, so she had a good idea where the best places to go were. The ‘gay’ thing didn’t get mentioned again, so I shelved my idea of going to the Court bar straight off. Maybe a pleasant evening just chatting with another human being would be better than trying quite so hard to be a newbie first night here?

Once she’d left, I busied myself by using the new pay as you go phone I’d got this morning to key in the contacts I actually wanted to keep. I knew at some stage I would have to speak to Katie again. Whatever our differences, I was sure that she’d be worried about me being all alone here. I decided to just send her a bland text for the time being. Safer all round. Then I sat with the phone in my hand deciding whether to put Naomi’s number in the new handset at all. I hovered over the save button for a good few minutes before pressing it. My head said no, but eventually my heart won out... this time. I wasn’t sure if it would be quite so easy to keep it if I found out Naomi was seeing this other girl more than once…?

XXX

Naomi

Anticipation mixed with a definite twinge of guilt was my primary mood as the can pulled up in front of the motorbike shop. It was definitely a bigger operation that I’d expected. I’d imagined some back street shed with a showroom next to it, but the squat black and yellow building was quite impressive and looked well established. I got out of the cab and paid the driver. As it was after closing time, the showroom was in relative darkness, apart from the spotlighted new bikes in the windows. Electra Glides, bobtails and Road Kings like my own stood in all their shiny glory. I took a moment to compile a mental wish list. You know, like everyone does when they’re confronted by all that glittering and expensive machinery.

Which is when, just when I gave a little sigh and reminded myself that I wasn’t here to ogle new Harleys but to go on a date, there was a gentle cough from over my shoulder.

I spun round, knowing who it would be. I just had time to enjoy the thought that someone had obviously been watching for my arrival before my breath was taken away by the sight in front of me. Gone was the cute grease monkey of this morning. Instead, flowing brown hair unrestricted by baseball cap and overalls gone, stood one Effy Stonem.

She was wearing a dress...well...something like a dress. Gossamer thin silver and almost see through, I couldn’t stop my eyes drinking in those subtle curves clearly visible under the delicate material. Honestly...if that dress didn’t say ‘fuck me’ loud and clear then I’m not a lesbian at all.

I looked up in time to see the smirk on her face widen for a moment before she spoke.

“You look...quite lovely Naomi” she said quietly. I swallowed hard. Lovely is one thing…

“Thanks” I said, my throat dry and scratchy. God...if this is whet she looks like clothed, I’m a goner, I thought feverishly. Treacherously, my recent guilt pangs about moving on from Emily quite so easily were fading fast. I tried a smile, which I’m sure came across as forced as it felt.

“Err...yeah...you too...you look...” I floundered, trying to come up with words to describe the creature oozing sex in front of me. It wasn’t like when I was with Emily...not at all. With her the feelings went way deeper, effortlessly sexy as she could be. But on a purely animal lust level, I was being hooked like a fish and I knew it.

Effy smirked again. In anyone else it could have been annoying, but right then I was ready to forgive her just about anything.

“Fuckable…?” she finished for me, leaving me with an open mouth to complete the landed fish image. “...well, we could skip the whole night out thing and proceed straight to the main course…?” she said in a low voice “...but that would be a bit of a shame. I want to show you off to my friends before...well before we find out if you’re as delicious as you look?”

I closed my mouth with a snap and just stared at her. Straight to the point again then. 

“Look I….I...” I started, trying desperately to get this conversation above our waist level, but she just waved my protest away.

“Why waste words, Naomi?...” she said, slipping her hand in mine, making me shiver at the contact of her cool skin “...you want it...I want it...I don’t see the point in pretending this is gonna end up any other way than both of us naked on my bed..but now lets go party...I have plans for tonight I think you’ll like...a lot”

I found myself being led by the hand round the building to a parking area where what looked like a crimson vintage Dodge Charger was standing, engine idling. In the drivers seat was a guy a couple of years older than us. Same blue eyes and intense stare as my date. Call me intuitive, but I reckon this was Effy’s brother. His eyes gave me the full once over and he whistled then grinned at the girl holding my hand.

“Niiice...” he said “...my sister has impeccable taste. Ladies, your cab awaits...”

I looked questioningly at Effy.

“Its OK Naomi...Tony’s just giving us a lift into the city. He has his own hot date tonight...right Tone?”

The guy grinned.

“You bet, little sister..” Tony smirked. An expression I was getting uncomfortably used to lately.

I walked towards the open passenger door, wondering what tonight would bring….curiouser and curiouser as Alice said.

XXX


	11. Eleven

Naomi

Coming round in a strange bed isn’t so much of a novelty to me these days. All those anonymous motels and the occasional strangers room on the road have inured me to a.m. surprises. Not that this morning was much of a surprise though. I could hear commuter traffic outside and the sun was already casting a baleful yellow glow on the wall I could see from my one good eye. The other one was a bit gummed up, so I risked physical effort to clear it with a hand that shook quite a bit. Eye make up is supposed to enhance your appearance, or so I’m told. But it really should come off before you go to bed. Otherwise the surprised panda look is more or less guaranteed. Even without the use of a convenient mirror, I knew I would be sporting an appearance that the keepers at Sydney Zoo would know all too well.

But I had other problems to contend with this fine Perth morning. One of which was a thundering headache...one that I’d earned by accepting most of the drinks that were waved in my direction last night. Part a desire to have fun, part a convenient anaesthetic. Drinking copious cocktails works wonders for a guilty conscience, yeah?

But I did have fun, no question about it. After Effy’s brother Tony (didn’t much like him.. more studiously mysterious than his little sister, but minus the effortless charm) dropped us off in the city centre, Effy led me on a tour of some of the best bars and clubs in WA. Air, Villa, Eve...I vaguely remember the neon names blazing above the buildings, but the bit I remember most was the way my date seemed to know all the door staff and avoid the long queues to get in. She walked confidently to the front of any lines and with a grin and a nod towards to me as if to say to the doormen...’this one’s mine... for the night’ we were ushered inside with barely a glance. I heard hisses and groans from the lines of punters watching us beat the crush, but Effy was already well ahead of me, so I suppressed my guilt at queue jumping and followed her inside. Once past the entrance, it was pretty much the same story in every place. Bar staff and those already inside all seemed to know the slim brunette with the smoky eyes. I got the once over from them all of course. Obviously Effy had a bit of a reputation for being a lady killer, so most of the looks I got were part envy, part knowing smirk. I have no evidence to prove it, but I’d bet the price of my Harley that more than one of the beautiful creatures she smiled at as we passed had been in this very bed at one time or the other.

Speaking of which, I risked extending a sly leg behind me, just to see if the jigsaw of sights and sounds from last night would reassemble enough to prove me right about who I spent the night with? 

Yep...a smooth leg met my nervous exploration and the faint contact made the owner sigh and roll over in bed towards me. Now there was an arm and...other things...touching me. More of last night flooded into my brain.

More drinks, more clubs, more strangers making small talk in noisy clubs and greeting Effy eagerly. It seemed my date was a minor celebrity with the youth of Perth. I had several meaningless conversations with randoms while Effy was buying us drinks, and more than once I had a guilty twinge, remembering the easy way Emily and I had bonded on the road just days ago. We’d avoided clubs and bars in the main. Yes, there had been booze and even once some shared spliff I scored from a local stoner in one of the larger towns, but by and large drinking and socialising was a private pursuit just for the two of us. We always landed up in bed together every night and thats what mattered.

Then...

Last night however was quite a different story. After showing me off to her ‘friends’ we ended up in a plush private bar...all leather seats, quiet booths and soft, flattering lighting, where Effy Stonem proceeded to seduce me with sweet and filthy words.

Not that I needed many words by then. Alcohol...well, before the spinning room and search for a gutter stage anyway...is a strong aphrodisiac for yours truly. Add in a stunning brunette who was completely without any normal social boundaries and I was toast, well done and buttered just right.

A quick cab ride back to this place at 1 am, with some whispered promises and the sort of sly caresses designed to tease but not satisfy, then we were walking into this bedroom. A big, white room, right over the glossy showroom full of glittering Harleys. A big bed too. Big enough for two girls to have all the fun they wanted.

Which turned out to be quite a lot.

Now that my brain was starting to function again and the warm body spooning me from behind was making my senses tingle with startling memories, it was all coming back in waves...a pretty good metaphor for what happened to me..and her...last night.

Effy had stripped me slowly as I swayed slightly, legs braced against the thick mattress. I was drunk enough not to care, but sober enough to know I wanted whatever she was selling.

“So fucking beautiful” she’d breathed, unzipping my dress and letting it pool around my bare feet...my shoes had already disappeared, somewhere downstairs.

I felt almost shy, despite the cocktails still humming inside me. Artificial courage only goes so far.

She ran her clever hands lightly over my bare shoulders and drew tiny patterns on the skin of my neck as I looked back at her. Beautiful was the word for her too. She kissed me almost chastely at first (the only time that word was appropriate for several hours) and I shuddered as her cool lips covered mine. No tongue...not yet. I was shivering, but not from the temperature. Most of the sex I’d had...even with Emily...had been rushed, even feverish at times. This was the polar opposite. This was a calculated seduction. It felt like what it was...Effy was very much in charge. 

Putty? Thy name is Campbell from now on…

Oddly, I had a fleeting thought that despite all the lurid things she had whispered in my ears in the last club and in the cab home, this was the first time we’d actually been in any way intimate. The first kiss, the first caress. With E...oh fuck, there I go again, comparing this to then...once we’d made love for the first time we were so hungry for each other that the kisses we shared were anything but chaste and unhurried. But that thought was quickly followed by the one about Emily’s fake orgasm and to be truthful, thats all it took to eliminate her from my mind for the next hour or two.

Effy, of course, proved to be a skilful and inventive lover. No more doubts about betraying my ex came to mind, but more than once, even as I groaned and writhed beneath a determined Ms Stonem, I had time to reflect that this sex without love thing was missing something vital which should have been important to me. Not that Effy exactly disappointed in the loveless sex department, mind. 

From kissing me until my head spun, to eventually lowering me onto my back and using that artful tongue to trace a moist and elaborate path all over my willing body. I was completely at her disposal from then on in. Her own dress seemed to fall off of its own accord and at last I could feel those small but shapely breasts caressing mine. Her nipples were as excited as my own and it was no hardship to surrender to her lips over and over as she kissed and lapped at them. I thought I knew what and where she was going next, so when her hands pressed gently on the inside of my thighs, they separated willingly enough. By this time my hips were straining upwards anyway, trying to get her to touch me where I burned.

Of course, thats when she turned complete tease and made me wait. Minutes of delicious if frustrating butterfly caresses and sly stroking. It wasn’t till I pushed her away as she carried on not putting that tongue where I desperately wanted it, using my own hand to rub my aching clit, that she relented.

“Oh no Naomi...” she breathed as I began to stroke myself, “...naughty girl...you don’t have to please yourself tonight, gorgeous...although maybe later on, that’s something I’d very much like to see?...”

I gasped as that statement sunk in. Emily and I hadn’t progressed that far yet either, so solo masturbation mixed with exhibitionism was still on my erotic to do list…

“...but I’ll let you carry on for just a minute, beautiful...I have something else you might enjoy even more?”

My fingers still moved on and around my clit, but her words made me slow down. I still had an intense desire to get off, but I was intrigued enough to find out why she had got off the bed, lifting my head up from the pillows to see.

There was the sound of something being buckled across the room and in my dazed and pre orgasmic state, it took me several seconds to realise what.

It wasn’t until she padded back across the bedroom that I saw what she’d been doing. Her slight body, curvy as it was, had an extra ‘accessory’ attached to those slim hips. Long, thick and slightly curved upwards. Again, Emily and I hadn’t got past the sexual basics yet, so it’d been a good while since I’d seen a strap on. Specially one so, err... life like?...The only girl I’ve ever experimented with one had insisted on using something bright blue and as unlike a real cock as possible. But this one made me gasp again. Black as a door knocker and...err...ultra realistic? 

“You did say you were up for anything?” Effy smirked as she got closer to the bed and as my voice seemed to have left town, I nodded dumbly. I seem to remember agreeing with just about anything she suggested back in that private booth. But in the here and now, I clenched inside at the very idea of entertaining that monster.

The bed dipped as Effy knelt between my open thighs. My fingers, which had been idly keeping me on the edge as I waited for her to come back, had stopped and she frowned.

“Frightened to take a chance little girl?” she teased. For someone who barely knew me, she seemed to have an uncanny knack of identifying my character flaws. Yes, I was a bit apprehensive about that bobbing Mandingo cock inside me, but no one ever accused me of being frightened to take chances and got away with it. Dare Naomi Campbell to do something and its fucking done. 

I forced myself to smile. Fucked if I was going to pussy out on this experience. If Miss Stonem wanted our first time to be with an oversized dildo...who was I to say no?

I reached out and grasped it by the shaft firmly with one hand, while urging her forward with the other on her naked hip.

“No more teasing then Effy?” I asked hoarsely

The tip of the bulbous head touched me right there and I jerked in anticipation. 

“Fuck me?” I said simply and watched her face get serious as she pushed steadily forward.

The sound of my next groan was echoed by her own as she sank the whole damned thing inside me in a couple of practised movements of her hips. Someone had definitely done this before….I lifted and spread my legs to give her more room, then gripped her waist with my eager hands as she started to thrust purposefully inside me. My next moan was smothered by her open mouth…

Being fucked with that thing was the strangest but somehow incredibly hot thing I had ever experienced up till now. It felt weird knowing she wouldn’t be actually feeling any sensation down there, but by the expression on her face as she drove over and over into me, panting like she was running a marathon, watching me buck and moan beneath her was reward enough. It was only right at the end, when I was tossing my head from side to side, pleading with her to do it harder, deeper, that she took her weight on one slim arm (that hidden strength again) and used her other to jam a hand between us. I felt the back of her fingers moving as she frantically rubbed herself to her own orgasm. But by then I was beyond caring. I came hard and long, clenching over and over on the relentless intruder as she hammered away at me. 

Lets just say it was an experience I might well want to repeat someday soon...but maybe after I get rid of this ache...

By the time we’d stopped having sex last night, I think I can safely say we’d pretty much covered all the bases. From screwing me to an explosive climax with that monster, to discarding the artificial accessory and using our tongues and fingers to please each other all over. Just before 3 am I think it was, Effy collapsed utterly sated beside me. My mouth was still tingling from the taste of her as she’d crouched over my face, watching me lick her. If there was a sex position left undiscovered, I have no idea what it is. 

She promised me a night to remember, and she definitely didn’t disappoint.

XXX

Emily

Sunlight...strong sunlight. I opened my mouth to moan, but in the time it took to do that, my brain registered the fact that the window was in quite the wrong place. Completely wrong. In my room, the window was over the scruffy dresser. Here, there was nothing, just a scuffed bit of wall and what looked suspiciously like a pile of my own clothing.

I froze, desperately trying to remember last night.

There were cocktails, more cocktails, and beer and oh yeah...some very strong whizz. My jaw slightly ached from all thee teeth grinding and my throat was dry as sandpaper, so yep, I definitely had some of that pissy smelling powder. Enough to lose my small town inhibitions and dance like a dervish at the last club we were in. Me and...oh shit...Shreya?

I turned my head incredibly slowly to the left. Hoping that I would be alone in this bed. A single bed. My gasp of relief was short lived however. I might be alone, but there was another pile of clothing on the chair next to the small couch. Fuck fuck fuck, I thought feverishly. Who?

The who was quickly apparent as my head caught up with my waking body. A fucking semi naked body as I discovered, looking under the thin summer duvet. Not fully naked, you understand? But close enough to send a thrill of fear through me. Bra and knickers intact, but I was in another persons room and the Indian bangles hooped around the little jewellery stand on the dresser was a bit of a give away. If that wasn’t enough, the faint smell of a very familiar perfume confirmed it. I was in bed, semi naked...in my ‘friends’ room.

Which made no sense whatsoever. For fucks sake, I live three floors below this one. I might be disappointed that my own room sits above the stinky kitchens, but that’s hardly a reason to sleep in someone else bed, is it?

God forgive me, I couldn’t not know. Did I fuck her last night? There was no familiar ache between my legs, no sting of a hickey on my neck, no taste in my mouth...oh Jesus, did I just actually think that?

But I crept my hand out from under the duvet...and gingerly sniffed my fingers. Gross, I know, but really, in my sheer panic, I had to know. 

Nothing...just the smell of my own skin. Fuck, I was unbelievably relieved. And then a little disappointed. Because last night had been about erasing that image in my head of Naomi getting friendly with that mechanic bitch yesterday, hadn’t it?

A night out with a ‘friend’ seemed like a perfect antidote. A friend who I thought was probably straight. Well, until the fifth or was it sixth drink last night when Shreya admitted she’d tried both sexes and was casually ambiguous about what she was. That was unexpected, but she hadn’t shown any inclination towards me...even when we’d snorted that whizz in the club toilets. Usually...and I’m no expert, having only taken amphetamines under the close eye of my bossy sister back home, but one of the side effects is a definite boost to the libido. But I know she didn’t hit on me.

So no...last night, as far as I can remember anyway...was mainly about getting high and dancing like loons. I fended off attention from hopeful males and even the occasional raised eyebrow from a girl. I wasn’t ready quite yet to start looking elsewhere for sex, even if Naomi was.

Sitting up and being very careful to keep the duvet right under my chin, I looked around the room again. My head was banging, but I’ve had much worse hangovers. Back home, the escape of copious alcohol was a weekly event. If I had to endure the slobbering lips and wandering hands of whatever adolescent Katie had kindly fixed me up with, at least with a few beers inside me I could bear it...just.

Just as I started to reach for the edge of the duvet, determined to get dressed as quickly as possible, the door swung open. I squeaked and pulled the cover right up under my chin again.

“Hi babe...” Shreya grinned, closing the door with her elbow, her hands full of two cardboard cups of what looked and smelled like fresh coffee “...back with us then?”

I nodded.

“What...I mean why...” I started to stutter, but Shreya (dressed very distractingly in a n oversized mans shirt and not much else) interrupted me.

“Don’t worry Em...your honour is intact...although you DO get a bit handsy during the night babe...had to sleep on the couch in the end. Flattering you wanted to get it on with me...not quite so flattering to be called Naomi?”

I groaned with embarrassment. 

“Oh shit...so sorry...it was the whizz...I get...oh fuck Shreya, I’m so sor...”

She shook her head and sat on the bed, I forced myself to keep my eyes on her face. That blue shirt was unbuttoned enough for me to catch the swell of those caramel coloured braless tits underneath and there was enough of the amphetamine still inside me to send a definite twinge south...Not the time or the place Emily.

“Forget it. Another time, another place huh? You are kinda cute when you’re drunk and horny?...” she grinned cheekily “...but I’m guessing this Naomi is still the number one target, yeah?”

I shrugged miserably.

“Fat lot of good thats doing me at the moment. She’s been off on a date with a hot mechanic, while I just got pissed and made a move on my friend...not very classy?”

Shreya passed me one of the cups and shook her head.

“Like I said Em...forget it… I’m not offended at all and if this Naomi has any sense, she’ll realise you’re way better than any stray Perth grease monkey. Now...drink that coffee. I have to got to go to work soon and I’ve already given the kitchen workers an eyeful, going down to the back door to get these drinks...my arse will be black and blue...oh..and in case you’re wondering...you’re in my bed because when we got to your room, you’d left the window open and the place stunk like a landfill site. I couldn’t let you sleep there. In any case, I had to virtually carry you up here...fucking lightweight!”

I blushed at her teasing. Way to go Emily...get so drunk you have to be put to bed and then come on to your only friend in Perth so she has to sleep on the couch. Great first impression.

Shreya left me to drink my coffee and worry some more.

I’d had my first night proper in Perth...I just hoped Naomi’s own first night was as disappointing.

XXX


	12. Twelve

Emily

You can’t really call it the walk of shame, can you? First I hadn’t actually shagged Shreya last night, although by the sounds of it, I’d made a drunken pass at her while simultaneously mistaking her for Naomi. Classy Emily, really classy. Second, its not really a walk when all you have to do is take the lift down from the fourth to the first floor. But anyway it might not qualify, but it still felt a bit embarrassing. After coffee and with Shreya graciously turning her back while I dressed in last nights clothes...all rumpled and creased from being on the floor...I made my excuses and left. Not before agreeing to meet up for a late lunch in the diner she worked in.

“Honestly Emily...don’t be so hard on yourself?...” Shreya had giggled as I apologised for the tenth time for groping her in the night. “...its rather flattering actually...even if you secretly wished I was someone else?”

I blushed again and muttered something about strong drink and me not mixing well.

“Its cool Emily, honestly. Look, if it makes you feel better about it all...in any other circumstances, I definitely wouldn’t have said no? You’re very cute and its been quite a while since I got it on with a pretty girl like you. This Naomi chick doesn’t know how lucky she was to get with you in the first place? 

I blushed again. I know she was trying to make me feel OK about what happened and she was, no is, very attractive. But it didn’t work. I smiled at her words and left as soon as I decently could. On reflection, I should have stayed another five minutes….

The lift took a while to come as I stood in the 4th floor corridor, waiting for it. Again, if I knew then what I knew now, I would have taken the emergency stairs.

Finally the elevator hissed open after the damned thing had been all the way to the ground floor and back up again. I tapped my feet impatiently as the steel doors widened. I needed to get out of those clothes, into a shower and…

...and definitely not see the person who was standing in the lift scowling at the pause in her ascent.

Naomi fucking Campbell.

My first emotion was complete shock. My second was part lust, part envy at the dress she was almost wearing. Showed off her curves a treat...Sliver and blue leaf pattern, body hugging.. classy in fact. I had to force my brain to stop going to inappropriate places. Not the time or place. My third thought however was a whole lot bleaker. This outfit wasn’t for my benefit, was it?

If I was on a fucked up version of the walk of shame, so was she...and by the looks of her, it wasn’t just a night spent getting hammered then waking up unmolested in someone's bed. No...the hastily combed hair, the slightly askew makeup and rumpled dress might have mirrored mine...but the queen sized love bite on her neck was a bit of a giveaway. As was the expression on her face when she realised I was the reason the lift had stopped part way to her floor.

“E..Emily?” she stuttered, those big beautiful blue eyes widening in total surprise.

“I didn’t...I mean I didn’t realise... you, uh...” she said nervously.

I don’t know what she was about to say because sudden anger flared up inside me. I know I had no real right to be mad at her...after all, we’d broken up, hadn’t we? But sometimes people in glass houses can’t resist throwing fucking great lumps of brick at similar properties?

“Good night out then Naomi...didn’t take you long to move on did it? You might want to get some foundation on that love bite babes...the ‘just screwed’ look is so 2016?” I spat viciously. 

She actually flinched and looked away for a second at my hard words and her hand came up to her neck, belatedly covering the lurid bruise. Then of course, her eyes must have registered my own appearance. I was trembling with shock and anger, otherwise I might just have fled for the stairs there and then. Quit while you’re ahead, isn’t that what they say?

Those intense blue eyes narrowed and her mouth was set in a hard line.

“Jinx I think the word is Emily...looks like YOU had a busy night too, hun...who was the lucky girl anyway?”

Anger cooled in me immediately. I might not have actually shagged Shreya last night, but it was hard to deny I was attracted to her. Like she’d said earlier...another time, another place and we’d probably been at it like bunnies. Its kinda difficult to sustain the moral high ground when it looks for all the world like you’ve sinned as badly too. But I couldn’t let that accusation rest unchallenged. I might have considered shagging Shreya, but everything about Naomi’s appearance screamed that she’d actually done the dirty deed...and most of the fucking night, by the looks of it.

I forced my face into as impassive an expression as I could manage as I stepped into the lift. Fucked if I was gonna chicken out and use the stairs, much as my feet itched to do so.

“Actually, I didn’t?” I said curtly. I saw the instant look of disbelief on Naomi’s face and anger surged in me again. “...and that’s the truth...not that I owe you any explanations. I slept in a mates apartment because I was completely hammered, but thats all…?” 

I should have ended it there, specially as the lift was almost at the top floor and I knew my ex would be getting out soon, but that little green devil inside me insisted on the next icy words. “...it might seem strange to you Naomi, but some of us find it harder to move on quite so quickly after our hearts are broken? Obviously ‘some of us’ refers to me...you look like that pretty dark haired bike mechanic has used all her shiny tools on you...hun?”

With one last venomous look, I turned away from her as the doors opened on the top floor. I expected something back...a tirade of her own, an attempt at an explanation...maybe even an apology, far fetched as that seemed. Instead there was just a long uncomfortable silence as the doors stood open with Naomi’s foot blocking them. Then just a long, resigned sigh from her and the swish of the doors shutting. I could see myself in the brushed alloy of the lift as it descended and the person looking back at me didn’t resemble someone victorious at all. Instead, as the lift reached my floor, I watched my face crumple in renewed misery.

Well… that went fucking well…

Naomi

I walked to the door of my room in a daze. Emily...here? Jesus, that was a curve ball of epic proportions. I hadn’t intended to hook up with anyone in Perth so soon, but bumping into Effy had knocked my good intentions right off the park. But even if I could explain to myself that it was just pure chance a hot girl had hit on me immediately I arrived, that didn’t help at all at the moment.

Right now I felt as low a human being as I ever had. Emily was 100% right. I’d moved on almost seamlessly, turning back into the hard faced and amoral biker chick I’d masqueraded as out on the road. 

Fuck em and leave em, right?

Except all that had gone out of the window as soon as I virtually ran down Emily Fitch outside that glorified sheep station in Victoria. She’d never been just a shag to me from the get go if I was honest. While we were together, it was like I’d found myself in her...the real Naomi Campbell. That ugly scene with the hicks at the motel might have smashed our cosy pipe dream to bits, but now I was actually trying to make sense of the whole ‘relationship with Emily’ thing, it seemed like I’d run off at the first sign of something going wrong. Yes, she’d faked an orgasm. Yes, she’d considered running out on me. But unlike me, she hadn’t. I’d driven off into the distance, despite her pleas for me to talk to her.

And now I’d dropped my newly bought underwear for the first (admittedly gorgeous) girl to hit on me. And Emily knew a lot more about my sexy random than I realised...that line about pretty mechanics meant she’d actually seen Effy...Nice one Naomi.

Once the room door closed on me, any residual feeling of well being from last nights shagathon well and truly departed. I unzipped my dress, tossed it and my knickers into a handy laundry basket and almost ran into the shower. Suddenly I needed to get the clinging memory of last night’s excesses off my body completely. 

I emerged ten minutes later feeling better physically but mentally still shell shocked. Gone was the tired pleasure a night of good sex gives you. Instead I felt like a cheater. It might not be technically true, but it still felt like it. 

It was warm in the room, even with the aircon working, so I dropped the towel and sat on the bed, looking out of the window. At this height, it would take a peeper of incredible agility to spot my nakedness. My phone buzzed as I was just about to get into bed, exhaustion and self disgust making me weary. A thrill went through me as the unknown number flag popped up. Maybe Emily had relented and at least wanted to talk?

The disappointment was as sharp as the anticipation had been when I thumbed the green answer icon. The voice on the other end was definitely not the one I’d been hoping to hear.

“Hey gorgeous...just having a break after finishing up on a Harley service?. Yours should be ready tomorrow morning too...but actually thats just an excuse...I wanted to hear your voice again?”

Fuck...Effy Stonem. I thought when I left this morning that I might get away with just being another notch on her belt. Naive of me. With difficulty, I forced my voice into a cheerful tone.

“Hey Eff...” I said “...thats great. I could come over at ten...bring cash if thats OK?”

There was a short pause when I thought maybe we’d been cut off, but then she spoke again.

“I was kinda hoping we could hook up again tonight?”

My silence must have rung alarm bells. Nothing about my encounters with the delicious Ms Stonem led me to believe she wasn’t intuitive. The silence extended.

“Look Effy...last night was...” I started to say weakly. I’m not exactly the best at this sort of thing. I shouldn’t have worried. 

“Epic? Earth shattering...yeah, I know Naomi. But by your reaction, I’m guessing you’re starting to remember that cute brunette...Emily isn’t it? Feeling guilty?”

Straight to the point then. Although I swore I wouldn’t, I remember mentioning Emily and what happened on the road. With this Effy chick, I hadn’t needed to draw a map...she obviously understood without being told that Emily had been more than a casual pick up. I never was very good at masking my feelings.

“A little” I said, not even bothering to protest. About time I was honest with someone else, if not myself.

“So you’re not up for a repeat of last night?...OK babe” she said breezily “...I’m not exactly short of offers...but can I give you a word of advice Naomi?”

I didn’t answer, but that didn’t prevent her carrying on.

“...don’t put all your eggs in one basket?...maybe this Emily has moved on too?”

I swallowed hard at that. Maybe she had? Remembering my ex’s dishevelled appearance in the lift this morning, that explanation about crashing at someone else’s apartment might have been true...or it might not. Maybe I was being naive and stupid, bailing on Effy while Emily was lying to me about this so called ‘mate’?

“Anyway, things to do, people to see” Effy said brightly “If you change your mind before tomorrow, call me on this number...but don’t leave it too long Naomi?”

I agreed and ended the connection. Fuck...what do I do now, I thought. 

Ten minutes later I’d decided. I owed Emily the chance to explain about what happened back on the road and I owed myself the chance to see if there was a way back. Her last words to me were brutal, but I know all too well how these things spill out when you’re angry. Anyone who knew me in Inverleigh would recognise the sentiments and the attitude.

I decided, instead of collapsing into bed and giving into sleep, I’d try to make this right. Emily was on the first floor...I knew that much. The receptionist downstairs had said there were only two rooms available when I checked in. Mine and the one over the kitchens. It had to be the one. 

Before I tried her door, after getting dressed and combing my hair, I took the lift down to the ground floor and walked out the back into the yard where I had seen my bike being loaded onto the trailer. It didn’t take much looking around before I could see the window above the kitchen. A grandstand view of the yard and anything that went on there. My heart sank as I realised that Emily must have seen everything from yesterday. The flirting, the last meaningful glance I’d shared with Effy. Yep...tried convicted and sentenced. Shit.

Walking back into the lobby, I steeled myself to go up to the room Emily was staying in and knock. Time to talk properly.

Which is of course, where it all turned to shit…

Emily

I spent a bit of time arguing with myself about being so...brutal...with Naomi, but after showering and changing into one of my new tops and a pair of summer shorts, I decided to take up that offer of a late lunch with Shreya. I could do with a friend...someone not involved in this shit. I toyed with the idea of going up to Naomi’s room instead, but my courage deserted me. I could have just asked reception which room she was in, but there was a long queue and anyway, it was way easier to just get out of the building and walk next door to the coffee shop Shreya worked in. It wasn’t too crowded now the business lunch time clones had departed back to their air conditioned offices, so after finding a spare table by the window, I ordered a cold drink and asked the young guy serving if Shreya was out back?

She was and in a couple of minutes brought my orange juice and another drink for herself over to my table, sitting down opposite after kissing me lightly on the cheek. Her smile was as bright as always and I felt myself relaxing a bit. This mornings tension slowly leached out of me as we greeted each other and chatted about nothing in particular. Perhaps this was exactly what I needed...a non sexual friendship. Just two girls in the big city.

“So...what’s the plan for the next few days then Emily” Shreya asked “...are you going to start serious job hunting yet?”

I shrugged. I’d only been here a day or so...there was enough money in my savings account to keep me going for quite a while yet. The Y seemed like a good enough place to stay in for a week, maybe two. But then there was Naomi. Could I honestly endure watching her run about with this Effy chick every night? If it truly is over between us and she’s moved on, thats exactly what it would be like. Maybe an apartment would be better... somewhere else nearby?

I bit my lip and considered my answer. Fuck it, I thought...I’m not being driven out of the Y by my ex.

“If I could get a better room...maybe I’ll stay for a few more days next door?” I said, sipping on my juice “...I have a fair bit in my savings account, so money isn’t a problem at the moment...but spending more nights in that smelly room isn’t exactly inspiring me to carry on like this?”

Shreya nodded. Her long hair was tied in pony tail this afternoon, but the contrast between her dark complexion and those perfect white teeth was still dazzling.

“Yeah...that room is definitely a no no. Look, why don’t I speak to Josh...you know the guy I was speaking to yesterday in the lobby.. the one with the ‘fuck Trump’ hat?

I laughed at that. It sure was memorable. And accurate. Fuck Trump indeed.

“Does he stay here too?” I asked.

“No...he works locally and he’s got a house share out in Craigie, but his best friend Matty is the assistant manager here. I bet he could get you a better room, maybe on my floor even? People are always coming and going...I reckon if I ask him, he can fix you up with something way better...maybe even a double at a single rate if we’re very lucky?”

I could feel the residual tension in me receding. This was exactly what I needed. Someone on my team. 

A friend. 

I reached across and covered Shreya’s small hand with mine. No flinch, so it looked like lasts nights stupid pass wasn’t being held against me at least.

“That would be fantastic Shreya...I’m so glad we met yesterday. Its nice to hang out with someone who doesn’t hate me on sight?”

“Aww Emily” she laughed “I’m sure no one actually hates you babe...you’re fucking gorgeous...listen...give me fifteen minutes...have some lunch here.. I’ll pop next door and track down where Josh is. We’ll get you fixed up in a nicer room and then maybe we can go out tonight...have a proper Indian meal then I can introduce you to a couple of my friends from Uni?”

She squeezed my hand and got up, swallowing the last of her apple juice. Her arm went round my shoulders as she stood.

“It’ll be OK Emily, I promise. Sometimes you just have to get back on your feet and out there again when you’ve had your heart broken. I’ll be back in a few minutes?”

The kiss on my cheek again was nice, but I tried not to read anything into it. Shreya was just naturally touchy feely I guess. That was nice too. The faint aroma of her exotic perfume hung in the air for a few seconds after she’d left and I settled back comfortably into my seat, feeling a lot more relaxed than I had just an hour ago.

If Naomi really was in my past now, the future might not be so bleak after all, with Shreya in my corner.

XXX

Naomi

I should have known it was never going to be that easy. I knocked on Emily’s room door for a while before I worked out she was out, not just ignoring me. Luckily (or so I thought at the time) the girl on reception knew what my ex looked like and told me Emily had said something about getting lunch next door?

I hurried out of the building, squinting against the harsh sunshine and roaring heat of a Perth afternoon. I made a note to get my Aviators out of my luggage upstairs later on. Sunglasses were definitely compulsory accessories for walking around. I felt naked without mine.

The coffee shop was right next door and I started walking up the path towards it, navigating around small groups of uniformed hospital staff who were milling around. Being near the Perth General, it was obviously a favourite hang out for nurses and junior doctors. The old saying about there only being three things certain in life...death, taxes and a nurse, bubbled to the surface of my brain. Not that I had any experience of shagging any nurses, but I caught a couple of interested glances from pretty faces which gave me a gentle hint it might not be total bullshit. But I ignored them...I needed to see Emily and have a proper talk.

Luckily I’d bought a new top yesterday with a high enough neckline to cover the love bite Effy’d marked me with last night. I didn’t think Emily would appreciate having that staring at her again this fine day.

Getting to the door, I paused for a moment. Outside may have been busy, but there were quite a few empty tables inside. I scanned the place from the doorway. A small brunette was sitting in one of the window seats with her back to me and I recognised her immediately. A half smile formed on my face despite my mind telling me not to get my hopes up. Her last words to me weren’t exactly friendly, were they?

Then I noticed someone else was sitting at the table opposite her. I groaned inwardly. Maybe just a random customer, I hoped. That little pipe dream lasted precisely long enough for the stranger to get up from her seat and kiss Emily gently on the cheek. Random strangers seldom do that in my experience…

I took a good, long look at her as she said goodbye to Emily. Short but slim and with that exotic brown skin and beautiful teeth which betrayed an Asian heritage. If she had been one of the nurses outside, I would have briefly logged her as quite fit. But this was different. If this was the girl who let Emily sleep in her room last night, she was definitely a direct threat. From the back, I couldn’t see Emilys reaction to the kiss, but she wasn’t exactly fighting her off with a stick, thats for sure. Jealousy surged in my chest as they carried on talking. Suddenly I’d lost the urge to talk myself. 

The girl finally straightened and clocked me watching them from the doorway. I don’t think she was a mind reader like Effy, but she certainly gave me a look that said “I know who YOU are”

Again my heart thumped as she started towards me. Talk about sizing me up, I could feel her gaze crawl over me as she came closer. Apart from the kiss, there had been nothing intimate between them, but I’ve been gay long enough to recognise the signals.

Her stare said clearly “this one is mine”

I returned her silent challenge with one of my own but I give her credit, she never flinched. As she passed me in the doorway, I caught a whiff of something exotic, but no words were exchanged. None needed.

I know I should have carried on with what I was about to do...sit down with Emily and try to make repairs to our wrecked affair, but something had chilled me about the look that girl gave me. I sniffed trouble.

Little did I know, as I turned on my heel and left the coffee shop a few yards behind the Asian girl, that I was bang on the money. Just how much trouble, I was going to find out real soon.

XXX

Shreya smirked to herself as she crossed the pavement towards Jewell House. Without being formally introduced, it was obvious who the blonde had been. The smirk widened as she saw the taller girl follow her out of the coffee shop. This had to be Naomi… and the fact that she’d been on her way to see Emily, but had chickened out after she’d seen the competition made her cheer internally. 

If the rival had been seen off as easily as that, she’d be no trouble. Shreya ducked into a recess in the building and watched the blonde go back into the Y. One problem solved quickly then.

She made her way silently inside a grey side door then quickly walked down the narrow corridor inside. After opening a door several yards along the deserted corridor, she walked across an empty store room and through another anonymous blue door. Once through that, she smiled as she took in the scene in front of her.

The guy sitting at a desk was her friend Josh. Dressed in an AC DC tee and a pair of Bermuda's, he had his feet up on the tabletop as he dispatched various strange 3D creatures with a controller virtual cannon. The sounds of explosions and fake moans of pain filled the narrow room. Two large empty cardboard cups of soda and an equally raided MacDonald's meal box filled the bits of the desk not occupied by either his bare feet or the wide screen TV displaying the violent imagery.

Boys, she thought indulgently...they’re either killing alien things on screen or masturbating over equally improbable American bimbo’s.

Josh looked up as she approached the desk.

“Hey babe...how’d it go with the girl?”

Shreya smirked again, sitting on the edge of the desk as he paused the game, he admired her boobs as they swayed under the tight tee.

“Candy from a baby hun...she’s gagging for it. Just came out of a relationship with a biker chick. Lonely and looking for luurve...” she drawled extravagantly. “ apparently there’s a few thou in her savings account...shouldn’t be too much trouble separating her from it. I’ll take her out for a meal tonight, get her nice and mellow, then fuck her all night...wait till she’s nice and hooked, then we can grab her savings book and passport...bingo. Next stop Sydney. I think we’ve just about outlived our welcome in Perth...that last girls parents turned up here on Tuesday, I had to fucking hide in the toilets for an hour?”

“Ahh babe,,,you’re a regular tiger with the girlies” he grinned “...still, you get all the perks? Shre...she looks really hot, this one...any chance of her giving old Joshy some of that perky body...just so I don’t feel left out?”

Shreya shook her head.

“Naah, sorry babe...definite 100% lesbo, this one. Show her that fucking trouser monster and she’d faint clean away” she laughed crudely.

“Unlike you babe...” the boy smirked “...how about you and me, uh...just to ease the frustration?”

Shreya sighed and got up, walking to the door and locking it before moving back to the desk and stripping off her tight top in one move. Her pretty, cone shaped boobs shook slightly as she knelt in front of him.

“Just a quick blow job Joshy...” she said, looking up at him as she drew the garish Bermuda’s down to his ankles “...little Emily is expecting me back with some good news about her room change...and I’ve gotta save some energy for tonight babe?”

The boy grinned again as the dark skinned girl covered him with her mouth, her head beginning to bob deliberately.

“Fuck...that’s so good Shre...” he groaned “such a dirty little girl...remember, I want all the details about our pretty little mark’s performance after you’ve fucked her tonight...you know how I get off on your...detailed descriptions...For a straight girl babe, you sure have fun with ‘em”

The girl popped him out of her busy mouth for a moment as he sighed contentedly.

“Naughty boy Joshy, its not exactly a hardship screwing pretty lesbians, but...Jesus... the things I have to do to make a living…?”

Then the room was silent apart from heavy breathing and the sounds of Shreya rewarding her partner in crime.

In the coffee shop, Emily Fitch, unaware of what was being planned for her ‘entertainment’ tonight, tucked into a sizzling double cheese burger and fries, happily swallowing as she waited for her ‘saviour’ to return.

XXX


	13. Thirteen

Emily

Despite my usual misgivings, I found myself humming cheerfully to myself as I got ready to go out tonight. Naomi was still very much on my mind, but I’ve not heard a word since I ripped her a new one in that elevator. Knowing her as I do, I think she’ll be burning over letting me have the last word. Being in control is sort of her thing? Which is where the problem lay in the first place. Me just being the plus one in our relationship...at least thats how it felt to me...was the reason I started to doubt our long term future. I didn’t have the courage back then to actually leave her, but I didn’t need to, did I...she did that all by herself? Faking orgasms and ‘almost’ getting on the train to Perth was all the reasons she needed to dump me on the spot. 

That still hurts like a bitch. 

The ache of losing her is still with me, especially after literally bumping into her in the Y. Whatever she might think now, I never set out to deliberately hurt her. But that fucking hickey on her neck was like a red rag to me. Nothing says more about the night before than a possessive mark on your skin. I should know...until I allowed Naomi to mark me a few times back on the road trip (admittedly in rather more subtle and intimate places than on my neck) I’d avoided anyone branding me quite so publicly. None of the guys I fought off in dirty alleyways and parked cars ever held me down long enough to leave a permanent reminder of our encounter on my skin. Unlike Katie, who wore her love bites like honour badges, I always resisted. I mean, its a bit chavvy, yeah? Telling the world that someone has gnawed on your neck?

So the words that I vomited up before Naomi left without responding were pretty much a direct consequence of that visual image. I hated that she’d slept with that pretty mechanic, but I hated even more having that reality flaunted in front of anyone who wanted to look.

Anyway...thats the ‘before’ reality. Now I had the immediate problem of what to wear tonight. I was going to wear that nice tight yellow crop top I bought yesterday, but on second thoughts, decided against it. Not because I disliked it, but maybe with an Indian meal, it might not be the most sensible option. I’m terminally clumsy, as anyone who knows me will testify, so it’d be guaranteed to get splashed by some sort of indelible sauce at the table. Nope, I opted for a button up dark blue shirt which I’d bought back home a while back. Clean and pressed, I thought it looked perfect. Three little white pearl buttons open, so my modest cleavage got an airing and tight enough to flatter. A pair of pale grey leggings went well with it and my little black ankle boots set the whole thing off perfectly. Looking at myself in the full length mirror by the door...oh, almost forgot...I’m on the fourth floor now, I thought I would do. Shreya had been as good as her word. She came back (looking a bit flushed, I thought) dangling a set of keys in her hand and beaming happily. I’d just finished my burger and was eyeing the dessert menu, deciding on whether to go all out and have that massive ice cream sundae which looked so delicious on the cover, when she reappeared. She’d been over half an hour instead of the fifteen minutes she promised, but I forgave her instantly when she presented me with those shiny keys. Again I got the familiar kiss on the cheek and detected minty toothpaste on her breath. I wondered if the reason her teeth were so perfect was three a day brushing...maybe I should bump my twice a day habit up?

But I forgot all about that when she told me she’d persuaded the deputy house manager to let me have a nice room a few doors down from her own. The ice cream was forgotten immediately and I almost ran back with her to see my new accommodation. It was about as different as its possible to be in a building full of identikit apartments. On the other side of the building from the kitchens, with a view of the distant Swan River. Oh, and the piece de resistance? A nice big...double bed. I squealed when I saw it and bounced up and down on the top for a bit like an excited ten year old. Call me childish, but it was a massive step up from the ‘worst room in the hotel’?

Shreya just watched me from the doorway, grinning at my noisy enthusiasm. I jumped off the bed then, a bit embarrassed about being quite so exuberant, but I couldn’t help myself, for once things seemed to be going my way. Ever since Naomi drove off, leaving me in that shitty motel room in Ceduna, I’d had been feeling empty. But not today.

I couldn’t help myself...even though I knew she didn’t fancy me in that way, I had to give her a hug. A proper Fitch hug.

Which is where something changed. And not in a bad way.

I expected her to endure my gabbled thanks and tightly surrounding arms with her usual polite good humour. I mean, this is the girl who suffered my midnight drunken groping with easy assurance. But just at the time I realised I was doing a bit of personal space invasion, her hands came up and started stroking my back...like really stroking me? I stopped rambling and pulled back in surprise. Her face was right...there...and everything in my head was straight away yelling at me to just kiss her. Those dark eyes and soft lips were tempting me beyond endurance. Endorphins were surging through me and I knew if I didn’t step away right then, I might overstep the mark yet again and undo all the good work of today. Kissing her would be really stupid, right?

Which made it doubly surprising when she kissed me.

Yeah, you heard that right. One of the hands that had been idly stroking the skin under my top moved up and gently cupped my cheek. I trembled as I realised what she was about to do. 

Her lips were warm and soft, the faint aroma of that minty toothpaste lingering on her breath as she closed the distance between us. I felt my mouth opening as our lips touched, then moved against each other. Her body was still pressed tightly against me and a shiver of pure enjoyment ran right through mine as she slid her bare thigh between my own. Skin on skin...oh fuck, I thought, I’m in trouble here.

For a crazy moment, I thought we were going to go straight from the kissing into frantic sex on the duvet, but that didn’t happen in the end. The kiss went on for a few seconds more, but then she pulled back and looked into my eyes.

“Wow..” she said, “that was...err really rather nice?...I’m sorry Em...got a bit carried away there...your happy mood is infectious?”

Disappointment flooded through me and my face must have betrayed my mood change because she tugged me up close again.

“No...don’t think I regret the kiss Em, not at all...but you were so fucking happy and you look so gorgeous...I just couldn’t help myself?”

“Its OK...” I said “...thats cool, you don’t have to explain yourself...I get carried away easily too...as you found out last night...we’re just friends right?”

Her eyebrows went up and she shook her head. Now I really was puzzled...not friends?

“Not just friends is what I meant Em...but lets just take it slowly yeah…I fancy you a whole lot, but we’ve just met and you still have a bruised heart?...lets just see how it goes, yeah?”

Now it dawned on me (not being the most observant lesbian on the planet) what she was actually saying…

So when she kissed me again, I stopped worrying about what all this meant and just enjoyed it. She was a good, no a great kisser...not that I have many experiences to compare her with and standing there snogging her in my new room, I luxuriated in the knowledge that some other than Naomi Campbell actually fancied me.

She left shortly after that. The memory of those soft and demanding lips on mine stayed with me right through the collection of my meagre belongings from the first floor and getting ready for tonight. It was like I was on my first date or something...

Because for the first time since I’d stood with tears in my eyes at the door of that motel room in Ceduna, hope hummed brightly in my chest.

XXX

Naomi

 

I can’t understand it. Finding out Emily is actually staying here was shock enough. Knowing she’d seen me being pulled by Effy in the car park was worse...and I don’t even want to go in the direction of this new and cheeky Asian girl who obviously has designs on my ex. My head is all over the place. I thought I’d probably never see Em again. Now I know she’s staying here, but seems happy in the company of the coffee coloured charmer who smirked at me in the coffee shop, then disappeared into thin air when I tried to follow her.

Which is what Emily has done too. I even asked the cleaner on the first floor to check her room for me after getting no answer to my knocks. No dice, empty room. So I went down to reception to see if she’d checked out.

Apparently not. The guy on the desk had just started his shift, so he had no idea why, but Ms Fitch E. as he insisted on calling her, was apparently now on the fourth floor in a double room. He looked a bit dubious as he checked the screen in front of him, as if there had been some sort of creative accounting to get a single backpacker into a pricier family room, but as I couldn’t see what he was reading and he made no other comments, I’ll never know. What I do know is that just now, I tried her new room with the same results as before. Its 7.30 at night, so I’m guessing she’s already gone out on the town, probably with that attractive Indian girl. And thats never gonna be good news for Ms Campbell N, now is it?

Sadly, I’m well aware from past experience of the effect alcohol has on Emily Fitch. She might be telling the truth about last night being innocent. It wouldn’t be unusual for people to crash in each others rooms here, if my own experience of the Y in Inverleigh are anything to go by. I had some memorable nights there back in the day, when booze and recreational drugs were guaranteed at student type digs. But even if thats honestly what happened last night, if she’s out with a pretty lesbian tonight again, things will inevitably develop. Things I don’t even want to imagine. Jealousy and self loathing competed inside me for the right to make me feel worse. Hypocrite? Yep, thats me. I might have turned down a rematch with the inventive and supple Effy Stonem tonight, but I’d hardly been an unwilling victim to her seduction yesterday. Now I know how Emily would have been feeling when she saw me hooking up with the sultry mechanic. Somehow thats not a comfort.

But with no way of contacting Emily (the mobile number I had for her isn’t working, another bad sign) I’m starting to believe that she’s moved past it all. The look I got from that dark skinned girl as she passed me in the doorway of the coffee shop was as universal as the sunrise. It said ‘mine...loser’

Nice one Naomi...fucked it up good and proper this time.

I ended up drinking a whole bottle of Wolfblass red I got from the grocers across the street, while watching some improbable Aussie soaps on the small flat screen on the wall. Alcohol and exhaustion soon caught up with me and the next thing I knew it was morning…

XXX

Emily

The meal was nice...more than nice actually. Shreya took me to a place called Dhaka Express, a ten minute cab ride away, Said it was a proper Bangladeshi family run restaurant, not like the city centre tourist traps serving chips and western type side dishes. She was right, the food was amazing. Despite the blowout lunch I’d had (and thank heavens I resisted that ice cream sundae) I was famished again. The only advice she gave me was to avoid the hottest dishes...apparently they are really really hot, so I settled for chicken breast Rogan Josh with Bombay potatoes, vegetable side curry and some naan bread. We washed it down with several bottles of ice cold Kingfisher beer.

The only distraction from the delicious food wasn’t on the table...it was under it. From the moment we left the Y, just before 7.15, Shreya had been even more touchy feely than usual. Which was fine in the cab over, but once we were seated in a little private booth, side by side, her hand was on my thigh virtually the whole time. Not that I was complaining much, but things seemed to have moved on a whole lot since yesterday. My lips held the memory of those two hot kisses in my room and Shreya seemed to be on a mission to make up for lost time.

Three beers in and still on the second course, that hand was sliding higher on my thigh. I wriggled as the waiter hovered beside the booth, offering us more poppadom or fizzy water. He couldn’t actually see what Shreya’s hand was doing, making those teasing little circles on my thigh under the thick white tablecloth, but maybe I was giving a bit of a clue, sitting there with a look on my face like a stunned sheep. I whispered to her to stop teasing when he moved off, but the hand only stayed where it was, not retreating a bit. I swear if she’d moved it another inch, she’d have felt the heat radiating from between my legs.

Strangely enough, although there were no end of tasty looking dessert ices to choose from, my appetite seemed to disappear.

So, after another five minutes of her hand making me quiver and jerk, I agreed to get the waiter to call another cab. The original plan of making a night of it and meeting up with some of Shreya’s friends got kicked to the kerb. The cab ride home was probably a lot more entertaining for this driver than the first one. Shreya backed off the physical teasing, apart from sitting way closer to me than was strictly necessary, but she was whispering stuff in my ear the whole time back. By the time we pulled up outside Jewell House, my clock was running faster than the can meter. I virtually threw a $20 note at the driver, who just grinned and gave us a thumbs up. I suppose he didn’t need a diagram to know what we were going to do next?

The lift seemed to take ages to get down to the ground floor and I remember hoping on all the angels in heaven that the doors wouldn’t open on a sad faced Naomi. That was probably the only thing that would have stopped us doing what we obviously both wanted.

As soon as the door to my room closed behind us, I growled at Shreya.

“Enough already...I want you to make up for all that teasing” I said, knowing that was a very weak way of saying what I meant. What I actually meant to say was “Get your clothes off, I’m gonna fuck you every way to Friday” but whatever, she got the message loud and clear.

So I was starting to understand Shreya a bit more now. She likes to tease...even when her body must have been as hot for contact as mine was right then.

“We have all night Em...” she smirked, stepping back as I tried to kiss her “...lets make it last?”

Fuck making it last, I thought feverishly. All I wanted to see was that hot little body revealed. She’d turned up tonight in a skin tight boob tube thing and a short black skirt, the shiny material of the top sticking to her curves like a second skin. Like me she was small in the boob department, but it didn’t matter at all right now. I wanted her naked...like now. Fuck, we hadn’t even shared a proper kiss since she’d greeted me outside the door earlier this evening. I wanted more.

She held up a hand as I tried again to kiss her.

“You can have me any way you want Em...there’s nothing I won’t do in bed, nothing at all...anything you can think up, I’ll do it with you. But first I want to unwrap my present?”

I stared at her, unable to make my brain work properly, let alone my voice.

She stepped closer and slowly unbuttoned my blue top...and I mean slowly. Unlike during the day, I’d put on my best and only lacy black bra tonight. The expression on her face as the shirt slid off my arms and down to the carpet told me that had been a very good move. Modest cleavage I might have, but the underwired bra was making the best of my assets.

“Beautiful” she said in a hushed voice and reached for the top of my leggings. I made to help her, but she swatted my hand away.

“No beautiful...you can do anything you like after...but I’ve been looking forward to this all evening...OK?”

I nodded dumbly, swallowing hard as she dropped to her knees in front of me. A hotter sight I don’t remember ever seeing. Her dark eyes were virtually glowing in the moonlight coming in through the window. Apart from the small lamp on the table, that was the only illumination in the room. 

She hooked her fingers over my waistband and pulled them nimbly off my legs. I didn’t think there was a sexy way of getting rid of leggings, but she made it look that way nevertheless.

When they and my matching black thong were on the floor along with my top, I waited for her to make the next move. I’ve never actually been seduced...even when I slept with Naomi the first time, it was more of a mutual thing. But this sly creature wanted to seduce me, I knew that now.

She smiled up at me as I stood waiting. Then she leaned forward and placed a small, delicate kiss on the neatly trimmed triangle of hair between my legs. I heard myself gasp as she pulled back and smiled up at me.

“So pretty Emily...so fucking pretty” she said in a low voice. My body was trembling like I was cold, although I was anything but. The fever between my legs was the thing making me shake. Finally she took pity on me and stood up. In two slick moves, the tube top and skirt were taken of. Then I gasped again. Underneath them had been...well, nothing. The realisation that she’d been sitting beside me in two cabs and a restaurant with nothing whatsoever under that skirt made me suck in a harsh breath. Jesus...if I had been as brave as her with the hands under the table thing, I would have found her naked. I saw her smile briefly as she read my expression. Unlike me she was as smooth down there as the rest of her body. I always thought Indian girls would be a bit...well...hairy. But Shreya was the opposite. Smooth, warm and silky all over.

I wanted so badly to explore her, but she’d made it quite clear this was her treat. Mine would come later. I waited anxiously for her next move...it wasn’t a long wait.

Suddenly, after the teasing, came the action. I found myself propelled backwards until my legs folded against the bed. I fell onto my back and she dropped beside me. Now her mouth found mine properly and I sighed into hers as she kissed me and probed with her slippery tongue. I allowed it inside my mouth and the kiss went on for long moments. I could feel her small breasts, hard nipples prominent, rubbing against my own. I wrapped my arms round her and scratched at her back as her fingers started to move over me. I though this first time would be fast and aggressive, but it was anything but. After kissing me so hard I could hardly remember my name, she pulled back and stopped me caressing her breasts.

“Later Em...” she said, breathing hard like me from all the snogging. “...remember… anything you want later...but first...”

She pushed my legs apart and stroked down my stomach with feather touches of her small fingers. I jerked again at the sweet torment, every muscle and nerve in my body wanted it harder, faster, but she wasn’t compromising one bit.

“Oh no...” she said, watching my reactions intently. “I want you to stay absolutely still now...no movements, no sounds until I say you can...right?”

My eyes went wide in disbelief. Did she honestly think with her touching me like this, I could obey that instruction? I opened my mouth to protest, but she placed a slim finger over my lips and shook her head.

“Emily...it will be so worth it...just humour me?”

I tried to make my breathing more regular and nodded uncertainly. I’d never played this sort of game before..not with...well, not with anyone. It seemed the big city held all sorts of dangerous surprises.

She smiled at my mute acceptance and the game began. Tiny feather touches all over my tits and stomach. Sometimes just fingertips, sometimes she wet them with her tongue and rolled my nipples slowly. The muscles in my stomach and legs refused to obey my instructions, jerking despite her orders and every time that happened, the sweet torture stopped for long seconds. 

Then the tongue slipped again over my nipples and circled my breasts, invoking a gasp or two...which in turn made her stop until I recovered. 

On and on it went. I thought I would go mad.

Finally, when my whole body was on fire and I was a second away from giving in to the silent screams coming from my brain, her middle finger found my clit. I jerked towards her hand twice, totally unable to stop myself. The tiny moan I gave out stopped the movement of the fingertip and it took me seconds to regain some sort of control over my body. Meanwhile she just waited patiently for me to stop twitching.

Her head moved towards me and she rested her chin on my shoulder, her breath hot in my ear.

“Good girl...” she whispered “...I won’t tease you much longer. I think Emily needs to come yeah?”

My frantic nod must have been the right gesture because instantly that single finger stopped tracing tiny patterns over my sex and the clit that was aching for contact. Instead, she parted my thighs wide almost roughly and drove two straight fingers into me. No way could I stay quiet now. I howled my pleasure to the ceiling, grabbing her hand and forcing it deeper. Her thrusts became faster and her thumb grazed my throbbing clit over and over. 

I think I might have actually passed out during that orgasm. I remember my hips bucking wildly and my hands scrabbling to push her hand into even quicker movements, but the sensations were so overwhelming, all I could do was moan incoherently and thrash my head from side to side.

When I came round, Shreya was holding a cool cloth to my forehead and making soothing noises.

“I take it you enjoyed that, babe” she said smugly. 

I might have taken offence at her tone any other time, but really? Wiped out is the phrase that came to mind. 

“Jesus Shreya...how did you...where did you learn to do all that?” I said in wonder. 

“That was...fuck, I have no actual idea what that was actually?”

Again the smirk, but this time accompanied with a kiss.

“That was me saying thank you for being so gorgeous Em...and when you’ve recovered a bit...maybe you could take care of my little problem?”

It turned out I could...several times. None of the sex we had well into the early hours compared to my first shattering experience, but even as a beginner, I think I did a pretty good job of making her happy. It was after 4am when we finally fell apart, exhausted, slick with sweat and finally out of ideas about how to please each other. I had her sweet taste in my mouth and my body tingled with her touch. I don’t actually know how many positions are in the lesbian Karma Sutra, but I do know there can’t be a whole lot left to try.

She fell asleep a few minutes before me, after we had taken a shower (together) and changed the sheets. I don’t think housekeeping would be quite as delighted as we were about the use my double bed had enjoyed…

 

XXX


	14. Fourteen

Naomi

Sunlight...intense, invasive sunlight. My eyes rebelled at being asked by my brain to open. My mind joined in the protest as the aftermath of that bottle of red caused regular thumps of misery all over my head. Great I thought miserably, a fucking hangover to add to the never ending wonder that is my shitty life. Reality screamed to a halt with smoking tyres as I cranked open one, then two of my reluctant visual aids. Hot and sunny...OK pretty much a Perth given. Usually that would make me feel a tiny bit like leaping out of bed and making the most of the day (haha), but it wasn’t just the hangover making me queasy today.

I lifted up an arm and stared at my Hamilton blearily. The hands swam a bit, then came into focus. 9.30 Jesus, I thought, I’ve slept for 12 hours straight. Alcohol had helped that happen, but I think really the misery of knowing Emily was out on the town last night with that slyly confident Indian girl made unconsciousness a very tempting retreat for Campbell N.

Groaning a bit at the effort, I rolled onto my side, then eventually levered myself off the bed onto my bare feet. Looking down I could see that actually the watch was the only thing I was wearing. Good, straight into the shower then. Hot water, the universal cure for a woolly head.

Ten minutes later, having alternated between scalding jets from the power shower to a final ten seconds of brutally cold water, I emerged feeling marginally better. Five minutes with the one bathroom luxury I’d carried all the way across the continent...an electric toothbrush, I was starting to think about what to do with my day after that 

I remembered talking to Effy yesterday about collecting the Harley this morning. 10 am wasn’t it I said? There was no way I was going to rush this morning though, so I thumbed a quick text to her straight off.

“Hi Effy. Running a bit late. Can we make it 11.30 for the bike?” N x”

The answer came as I dressed in a tight orange sleeveless top and a pair of black denim shorts. I don’t normally let myself drive the ‘beast’ in anything other than full biking leathers, but judging by the temperature in the room, even with the top floor window wide open, it was gonna be a proper hot fucker today. The sort of day that fries the pasty Poms at the WACA when they come here every couple of years to lose the Ashes. Riding through the city with a close fitting helmet on would be bad enough in this heat...I’d just have to risk needing skin grafts if I fell off and be very careful with the traffic.

The answer came quickly.

“Sure...no probs. Heavy night then? Who was the lucky girl (bitch)? E x”

I winced at that jibe, slipping on some black flats and grabbing my wallet from the bedside table. Fat chance. I’d turned down what would no doubt have been another epic night of exotic sex with Effy for the slim to non existent chance of getting back with my girlfr….my ex. And got precisely nowhere. Someone had beaten me to the punch.

I thumbed another reply before shoving the iPhone into the front pocket of my shorts. I needed coffee and maybe something more substantial to soak up that wine. Like now.

“No such luck.Should have taken you up on that offer. All I did was drink too much red and go to bed with repeats of Kath and Kim for company? N x”

My phone buzzed again as I waited for the lift, I pulled it out and grinned ruefully at the answer. Typical Effy.

“Yes you should have” followed by a self mocking tearful emoji.

Yeah...I should have. I really really should have.

Half an hour later, I was feeling marginally better. At least physically. But quit while you’re ahead, isn’t that what they say? Wish I’d listened to myself.

I suppose blind fate had something to do with it. On the way back up to my floor from the cafe downstairs, the doors opened on the fourth to let a couple of chattering Japanese girls out. My hand went to the ‘close doors’ button before, for some odd reason I changed my mind. I got an inpatient huff from the middle aged guy in wildly inappropriate budgie smuggler shorts behind me as I paused in thought, but I ignored him and instead of hitting the button for 11, stepped out into the corridor. Hope is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Maybe Emily had enjoyed a nice, but platonic night out with the pretty stranger and had gone to bed alone? Maybe she was in her room right now, drinking coffee and just enjoying being able to open a fucking window without being knocked out by garbage fumes for Christ’s sake?

Maybe, maybe.

Walking with determined steps down the corridor, I ended up outside her room. No. 44…

A woman cleaner was standing by the next rooms door, piling used bedclothes into one of those big carts they push around. Obviously the occupants of 45 were early risers, because their door was wide open. The woman was narrow faced... in her thirties I guess, visibly sweating a bit as she efficiently packed the laundry into the bulging suspended cotton bag. I thought for a second how lucky I was not to be doing such a mundane, boring job, then lifted my hand to knock on Emily’s door.

The woman turned towards me as my knuckles rapped sharply on the the wood.

“Err...I wouldn’t bother, miss” she said wearily...”I’ve tried. they’re...umm...busy in there?” 

Her accent was definitely more Sarajevo than Craigie.

It took me half a second to catch up with the meaning in those few short words. Time enough for a faint but oh so familiar voice to reach my ears from inside the room.

“Oh fuck Shreya...yes...Oh Jesus!”

I physically leapt back from the door. The cleaner must have thought I’d got an electric shock or something, because she dropped the bunch of room keys she was holding in one hand with a metallic jangle onto the carpeted floor. My expression must have told her everything she needed to know after that. I felt the blood drain from my face as the moans and pleas from inside the door gradually grew in volume. Moans and pleas I knew all too well...considering I’d heard the same sounds of pleasure from Emily several times before today. The bacon roll and coffee from earlier roiled in my stomach and I had to swallow hard not to throw up all over the corridor carpet.

I felt sudden movement beside me, then the woman was right next to me, a polite but worried look on her face. She might be doing a boring and mundane job, but her day was definitely going to turn out a lot better than mine. I felt her cool hand on my own as I stood there frozen in shock at what I’d heard. The noises were getting louder and I stepped back another pace as if I could prevent it just by moving backwards. Idiot that I am.

“OK there miss?” the woman said “you look like you need a sit down?”

I shook my head. If my feet had obeyed me, I craved nothing more than to run away from those ecstatic sounds as fast as my legs would carry me, but there was some sort of malignant force at work on my body. My head was screaming at me to get the hell away from the sounds of Emily being royally screwed, but my nerves wouldn’t send the right signals to my muscles.

The cleaner gently pulled at my elbow as I stood there, drained of energy.

“Come...I have a little store room down the corridor...come sit for a moment. Get your senses back?”

Dumbly, I let her lead me a few yards down the corridor and into what looked like their hidey hole. Rows of shelving with various cleaning products stacked on them and praise be, a scruffy two seater couch, right up against the back wall. She sat my wobbly self down and, as I stared sightlessly at the doorway, pressed a plastic cup of water into my hand. I have no recollection of her getting it, but I was grateful for the small courtesy. I drank it in two swallows, still staring back towards the place I had been until seconds ago,

“Look...” she said, taking the empty white beaker from my fingers. “...none of my business, but if I were you, I would just walk away right now? That...umm...noise...has been going on most of last night, apparently. The people next door complained to the front desk, which is why I’m cleaning their room early...the boss has given them another room on the tenth...some people have no consideration for oth...”

I couldn’t hear any more. I lurched up to my feet and mumbled some sort of thanks. 

Then I did run. Not back to my room, but down four flights of emergency stairs and straight out into the heat of a Perth morning. Anywhere away from those ecstatic cries.

XXX

Emily

When the door closed behind Shreya as she finally left at 10am, I actually gave a sigh of something like relief. Jesus, what a turn round. The girl who said she just wanted to be a good friend had turned out to be a whole lot more than that. A sexual dynamo I think is a better, more accurate description. Shagging half the night was frankly amazing, but I woke up this morning with the sun scorching my closed eyes and a busy dark head already between my legs. For a bi girl (if thats what she truly is) she certainly knows all the moves. I was half way to another orgasm before I even properly woke up. I cringed a bit at remembering just how vocal I’d been. The poor people next door must have had very little sleep...and now this morning too?

I only got this room because Shreya’s friend Josh pulled some strings with the management. Getting thrown out for being too noisy on my first night wasn’t a good move, was it?

But I had more pressing problems right then. A wee and a shower, in that order. The bedclothes were damp and frankly smelly after what must have been four, or was it five rounds with the inventive Shreya. Frankly, I stunk of sex and sweat. I jumped off the bed, pulled off the bottom sheet and stripped the thin summer duvet of its own cover. Pillowcases followed. All that physical exercise brought a few deep aches to the surface. My neck stung from what was definitely a love bite...or two. So much for sneering at Naomi for crude symbols. I was wearing what felt like a couple of real beauties. The ache between my legs was duller, but just as telling. Fingers, tongue, she’d done a proper number on me. Gentle, rough, demanding, you name it, she had me in every way possible.

Not that I complained at the time mind. My faint regret at forgetting all about Naomi as Shreya seduced me had all but disappeared by the time we were naked. I was a willing and eager partner all fucking night. It was only now that that regret was biting hard again. Had I given up on my ex too soon? Was she trying to make amends back in that lift when I shot her down in flames? After all, as far as she knew, I was gone for good when she hooked up with the sexy mechanic. But I was perfectly well aware that Naomi was in my postcode when I shagged the fragrant Shreya. 

I suppressed more self loathing thoughts as I scrupulously washed myself in the hot shower. Shampoo and loads of creamy Lux soap cleansed my body of the physical evidence of last night (and this morning...don’t forget, Emily) The mental marks were harder to get off me.

Once I’d showered and changed into some clean clothes (opening the window as wide as it would go to try to clear the air of obvious shagging) I resolved to sort myself out properly today. I was supposed to meet Shreya again after her shift at the coffee shop. We were going into town. I needed some cash...for one thing, she’d told me that she’d had to slip the assistant manager $50 to get this room for me, so I had to pay her back. I dug out my passport and savings book. If we went to the bank before 3, I could draw out $250 and have enough cash for whatever happened in the next few days. I still had over $4500 in there, so money wasn’t a problem short term. Maybe I could make some time to find Naomi and at least have a civilised conversation. She didn’t know about last night, so perhaps we could start again...or at least not be yelling at each other. Little steps? She was still the person I spent most of the day thinking about...

Pulling the top of my crew neck tee up high to cover the edge of one of those lurid hickeys (the other one I discovered on my right tit, so I didn’t have to worry about...the only person likely to see that in the near future was the one who gave it to me in the first place) I pocketed my passport and savings book and made for the door. 

Just as I reached it, there was a sharp tap from outside. I froze. What if it was Naomi? Back to try again. Fuck, I thought, scanning myself in the full length dressing mirror by the door...that fucking love bite?

My panic only lasted long enough for a clipped voice from the corridor to call out

“Housekeeping?”

I sighed in relief and opened the door wide. The woman outside was slim and stern faced. She looked vaguely Slavic...Russian? Anyway, her eyes were not exactly friendly as she regarded me from the corridor. I shrugged…

“Sorry...just leaving...all yours?”

Residual worry about how much racket we’d made last night nagged at me, but I figured I hardly had to explain myself to a maid, now did I?

“Perfect” she said in a sarcastic voice and went to push past me. Anger surged in me...who the fuck did she think she was?

“Problem?” I said sarcastically.

Once she’d walked past me, she turned and looked me up and down steadily. Despite my intention not to be intimidated, her gaze was very unsettling.

“No problem miss” she said coldly “unless you mean having to move the couple next door early this morning because you and your...friend were keeping them awake with your...bit of fun?”

I felt myself flush instantly.

“Oh...” I said...”right, well I apologise for that... we were...”

She shrugged this time and looked down briefly before holding my eyes again.

“Obviously...oh, and the pretty blonde girl who knocked for you this morning when you and your ‘friend’ were...uh, busy..? I started in shock at that “...she was very upset for some reason? I had to sit her in the store room and give her some water...looked like she might even faint at one point...another ‘friend’?”

The inflection in her voice was unmistakeable. Dislike. My blush was swiftly replaced with what I bet was a chalk white pallor.

Stunned isn’t quite strong enough a word for how I felt then. Naomi...here? And I was...well, me and Shreya were...oh Jesus Christ on a bike…

My mouth opened and closed a few times, like a hooked fish. But nothing came out. 

Unlike earlier today huh Emily? my conscience jabbed at me savagely ...this morning your vocabulary was very much intact, if a little... uh, repetitive?

Suddenly this bright Perth morning didn’t feel quite so sunny.

XXX

While Emily was gaping at the housemaid and Naomi was wandering round the town, still trying to get her head straight, a very different scenario was taking place in a staff bedroom on the second floor.

“OK babe?” Shreya said wearily as the guy lying next to her panted hard and pushed a pillow under his head.

“Yeah hun...fucking perfect. Jesus...you’ll have to dodge another shift again soon, that was...fuck...well intense?”

Shreya smirked and wiped her damp face with a white terry cloth from the bedside table. Her own breathing had just returned to normal after their...exertions.

“Won’t have to worry about that much longer. Like I said yesterday, I’ve reeled her in good and proper...gotta go to the bank with her this arvo to draw out a fifty, then I’ll make some excuse about not being able to make it tonight...I need to get that passport and savings book to Dylan so he can set up the bank transfer. If it all goes off OK, we can pack up here and empty that fake account first thing tomorrow morning. By the time little Miss Fitch finds out something’s wrong, we’ll be on the train to Adelaide. Then onto Sydney. This fucking heat is a bit much Joshy...I fancy something a bit less tropical next time?

The boy grinned at his naked companion and slung an arm over her shoulder as she sat up against the bed head.

“A fucking tiger, you Shreya… I loved the bit where she begged you to sit on her face...fuck me, I won’t be able to keep the grin off my face if I see her before we leave...she’s a horny little thing isn’t she? 

Shreya slapped his arm away without malice. She’d been as good as her word and relayed all the juicy bits from last night to her boyfriend while he fucked her. Even though she’d been tired and a bit achy, she figured she owed him a good screw this afternoon. Cancelling her shift at the cafe gained her absolutely no merit marks from her shift boss, but a fuck she did not give about that now. With luck and a bit of assistance from Josh’s mate Dylan (his fee of $400 was a bargain, considering she reckoned they would come out over four grand up) they wouldn’t have to pretend for much longer. By the time Emily noticed her account had been emptied, they’d be a hundred miles east.

They laid side by side comfortably, letting the aircon cool their overheated bodies. Shreya slid a hand over his thigh and held his flaccid cock in one hand, feeling it twitch even though he’d only moments ago been climaxing inside her.

“Steady” he hissed, as her hand stroked him idly “Little Josh needs a bit of recovery time babe…?”

Shreya made a mock disappointed face. In truth she was more than satisfied with the amount of sex she’d had in the past 24 hours anyway. Fucking Emily had been even better than she’d let on to him. Josh always wanted a detailed post mortem...he was a guy after all, but Emily had been very...eager to learn. It was obvious the girl was inexperienced, but that cute face and supple body was up for anything Shreya wanted her to do. It was almost a pity the scam was almost done, another night with the small brunette would have been fun, she mused.

The dark skinned girl snuggled closer to Josh, despite the temperature. She still held his considerable length in one hand, but more gently now. His breathing evened out as they lay there for a few more minutes. Maybe a nap would be good for both of them? She didn’t have to meet Emily for a couple of hours after all. Her mind began to wander as she relaxed.

It was hard to reconcile the life she lived now with her early teenage years. The story she told Emily about her background was completely false. Her parents were in fact Pakistani, as was she. They’d emigrated here on the back of her fathers qualifications as a pharmacist in Karachi. Settled in Brisbane, Shreya was born twenty years ago into a firmly traditional Muslim life. By the time her father was starting his own business, after working at the city hospital for a number of years, Shreya was 15...and in that closeted world, in dire need of a suitable husband.

She’d fallen for the lie that a trip back to Karachi was a holiday...a chance to enjoy her extended family, her roots. Which it was until the beginning of the second week. Then she was introduced to a bearded thirty something guy dressed in traditional Pakistani salwar kameez. He was polite and deferential to her father and uncles, so she assumed he was just another of the seemingly endless cousins in her home suburb. She only spoke halting Urdu anyway, being educated in a city school in Brisbane, so much of the regional dialect escaped her.

So the shock of realising that this total stranger was to be her husband felt utterly unreal. Her mother chided her for being so shocked at the idea. Didn’t she know that with her sixteenth birthday only a week away, a good Muslim girl should be prepared for marriage?

The ceremony went ahead, despite her hopeless and tearful protests. Everyone at the large and expensive event had a great time. Except her. She sat silently and afraid as things happened around her and people came up to congratulate her. Expensively wrapped gifts surrounded the happy couple and she fixed a rictus smile on her face for the endless photographs.

If she thought the day had been awful, the night that followed was far worse. Sex to her had been an occasional solitary exercise, practised after a long bath when her mother and sisters were asleep. Sixteen might be old enough in the west for some exploratory experimentation with other teens, but not in her world. She was a virgin in every sense of the word.

Her new husbands deflowering of Shreya had been rough, perfunctory and brief. His main aim seemed to be achieving ejaculation in as short a time as possible. She lay silently weeping under him, unresponsive to his movements as he grunted and drove repeatedly into her.

Coming back to Australia was supposed to be an escape back to normality, but it didn’t end up like that at all.

Confined to her parents house while the new husband was found work, with her mother and unmarried little sisters always there, life was reduced to a grey existence. Cooking meals, praying five times a day and suffering nightly under his sweating body was her lot. 

It was only when she failed to become pregnant after six months of enduring his three times weekly attentions that things changed. Not producing a child seemed to be the worst thing she could do as a wife. He started to beat her after the sex, as if hitting and kicking her would encourage his sperm to impregnate her quicker. 

It all came to a head when her mother took her aside and in clumsy English, tried to establish if she was being a ‘good wife to him’ “Are you making Amir happy...in bed” she was asked. “a good wife must put aside her feelings and make her man want her...”

Being given a book on the things a woman can do to excite a man was excruciating for both of them. It may have been couched in coy phrases, but the thought of putting her mouth there was nauseating. Bad enough he invaded her lower body...

And the fact that both her parents must have been well aware that her husband beat her several times a week, but chose to ignore it, was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. Next day, Shreya stole some gold jewellery from her mothers considerable stash and traded it for a few hundred dollars at a cash exchange. The grocery shopping trip she was allegedly on abandoned, Shreya was over two hundred miles away by the time her escape had been discovered.

She knew she could never go back. The disgrace would be absolute.

The three hundred dollars kept her going for a couple of weeks or so, but it soon ran out, then she was reduced to begging in doorways. A pretty face and slim body is always a target for pimps, which led her to use that body to earn a living for 3 months. Better to be paid for what she had grudgingly given to her husband for nothing?

Suffering under sweaty tourists was still better than what she had endured before. Mostly they didn’t beat her and there was the $50 on the bedside table to compensate, even if the pimp took half.

And then she met Josh in a gaming arcade. Drawn there one night by the pretty lights and the anonymity of the harshly chiming machines, she finally met someone who actually cared about her. He was making a living rooking tourists...promising drugs for cash, then disappearing into the back streets with the foolish backpackers money.

Josh and she found that her pretty face was a perfect foil for his clever mind. She drew the punters in, he took their cash and kept her safe from them and the police.

They drifted around Brisbane’s grimy underbelly for a while...then one day at a bus stop she was approached by a good looking woman in her twenties while she waiting for a ride home. The woman wasn’t interested in drugs. What she was interested in was Shreya...her dark good looks and supple teenage body. Sleeping with this Megan woman was way too easy. The sex was surprisingly satisfying and the $100 she was left in the morning was even better. Shreya needn’t have worried that her boyfriend would be angry. He didn’t consider her having sex with girls to be cheating, rather a rich source of erotic memories for her to recount when they were alone in bed.

It didn’t take long for Josh to work out that as long as his girlfriend didn’t mind having sex with pretty girls, they couldn’t just take money for non existent rugs, but actively defraud them too. After all, what respectable university student was going to go to the police and say they’d slept with a pretty girl and now they’d somehow lost their wallet?

If it had been the other way round and she was rooking male tourists, maybe the police would be more interested. But so far they had made a good living on the back of her exotic looks and willingness to screw gay and bisexual women with enthusiasm. Emily was just the latest mug to fall for her charms.

Shreya murmured to herself as she began to slide off to sleep. Emily had been sweet and willing...and no hardship at all to fuck. But business is business after all. Then Josh stirred beside her and she stopped drifting as the cock in her hand started to swell again. Emily might have been sensational in the sack, but her boyfriend meant a lot more to Shreya than mere sex. She gripped his erection harder as it stiffened and leaned towards him.

“How about I ride you this time big boy? That way I get to tell you all about this mornings little shag…she was so fucking...grateful?”

Josh grinned happily. He always liked it when Shreya was on top. He got to listen to the erotic details whilst watching her bounce on him as her fingers nimbly got her off too. Life just doesn’t get much better, he thought as the slim girl with waist length black hair straddled him then lowered herself carefully onto his dick with a happy sigh...

XXX

Across the city, Naomi was sitting in the lounge upstairs at Effys’ place. Spilling it all...


	15. Fifteen

Effy sits quietly as Naomi vomits up everything thats happened to her since they last met. She’s good at masking her emotions...has been since a toddler, or so her mother says. Came in very useful growing up with her older brother Tony. The master of deception. Machiavellian and magnetic to men and women alike since he first flashed those intense blue eyes as a boy. Let alone when his balls dropped. Mayhem.

She’s inherited the Stonem genes and not just those intense eyes. Like him, she knows when talking is more effective. People reveal themselves if you just let them carry on filling the gaps. She’s supremely comfortable with uncomfortable silences. She thought at one time it might be amusing to join the State Police. A detective perhaps...interviewing suspects. She’d be good at it...most of the idiots arrested convict themselves because they can’t stand silence. The better villains might be a harder test, but she was confident about outlasting them even so.

But she decided against it in the end. Three years in a badly fitting uniform giving out tickets on the highway and dealing with stroppy drunks before they’d trust her with a detective badge. No thanks…

So when her late and mostly unlamented father shuffled off this mortal coil, victim of a drunk driver as he walked home from a bar (the irony not lost on Effy) she dropped out of school and worked with her mother and older brother to keep the family business afloat. And they’d been spectacularly successful. From what was essentially a back street repair business, they’d slowly started to specialise in expensive imported American motorcycles...Harleys, Indians, even the odd Brammo. Australia was awash with the big highway cruisers, the roads wide and straight outside the cities just like the United States, perfect for would be Angels, mostly silver haired and over 50, pretending to be hoodlums again.

From those early struggles, they’d grown it into the biggest Harley and Indian motorcycle franchise in WA. The original premises soon abandoned for this shiny chrome and glass emporium on the main drag. Three be-suited professional salesmen in the showroom, with its rows of glittering machinery tempting buyers, and four full time Harley trained mechanics in the fifty foot wide comprehensively equipped workshop. In truth, there was no good reason for her to work in the repair shop any more. Tony had moved on from servicing and repairs two years ago. But she enjoyed the banter and the hands on work still. And she was a damned good mechanic. Skilled and much stronger than her slim frame promised. The first time she nonchalantly heaved a 600lb Electra Glide onto its stand, it wasn’t just the overweight owner who stared in surprise...so did two of the brawnier mechanics. After that, she was accepted as one of the guys...unless of course they overstepped the mark and tried it on with her. Effy Stonem made her own rules about sex. Her body, her decision.

She’d been actively bisexual since she was 14. Sex was about self gratification not gender she decided, as she progressed from losing her virginity to a twenty something sales executive from Adelaide in a rented motel room, to seducing her pretty but married philosophy teacher. The woman had eventually lost her job over the steamy affair...too many assignations in store cupboards and weekends away gave the game away, but Effy was grateful for the confirmation that sex with a woman could be at least as satisfying as with a guy. 

Her teenage years were randomly unspecific. She slept with boys her age as long as they pleased her, then transitioned into the Perth lesbian world, once she had learned how to get past the door staff at 16, and had several arousing encounters with older women and curious teens alike.

Love itself was never a priority for her. She observed with wry amusement the tears and wails of her contemporaries as they met, fell in love, then broke up with partners of both sexes. It just wasn’t for her, losing her heart to anyone. The most she felt was faint regret when affairs fizzled out. It was for the other party to sob and write soppy texts begging her to reconsider. No...love was for mugs.

She smiled inside as Naomi carried on telling her about this...Emily girl...and her so called infidelity. 

Naomi had been fun herself...a lot of fun as it turned out. The first time Effy saw her was in that YMCA car park. She looked the archetype biker chick and even before the tow truck had stopped, Effy could read her at a glance. Clearly at the end of the line of an epic road trip. On her own and vulnerable to a new pretty face and winning smile. And Effy could certainly supply both. The interested glance Naomi shot her as she jumped down from the cab was enough to convince Effy she was right. On her own, gay...or at least bi...and pretty as hell. She almost licked her lips at the prospect of bagging this one.

Even now, sitting opposite her on a soft chair in the private rooms above the showroom, weeping and wringing her hands, she looked strangely hot. That tight orange top made her tits look bigger than they were and even though the eyes were red rimmed and brimming with tears, they were still brilliantly blue. Effy suppressed the urge to reach out and comfort the girl. That could come later...when Naomi had wept her bitter tears and calmed down a bit.

She got up and picked up a glass of orange juice from the counter next to them, handing it to the blonde, Naomi followed her with vacant eyes. Effy killed the impatient sigh which threatened to come out as she sat back down again. The girl still wasn’t finished lamenting. She fixed her impassive face back on again and waited for Naomi to continue.

“and...and...I know we’re not...you know together right now...but it was so fucking...horrible...hearing her go at it with that bitch” Naomi choked as she began to go over the same ground yet again. “… I mean, I went there to try to patch things up...make it right? It’s over Effy...really over this time?”

Effy nodded slowly. It sounded like this Emily girl had dealt with the breakup in the time honoured fashion. When you need to get over someone, get under someone else. Seemed like a practical idea. Something Effy did every time she moved on. Yesterday was yesterday, no regrets, just pleasant memories to use next time she was in bed and feeling like a little self help. She might be popular with boys and girls alike, but sometimes her own fingers were a quicker solution to a little bit of temporary frustration?

She smiled at the girl opposite sympathetically and nodded again.

“I make you right Naomi...she has moved on...” Effy winced when that produced a fresh bit of crying, “...I’m really sorry hun, but from what you’ve told me this morning, you have to face up to it. Look...you’re upset and I don’t want you dropping that Harley on the way back after I spent all yesterday making her like new again. Why don’t you stay here for a bit? I don’t need to go back downstairs again today. The guys have all the work covered. Honestly, I only worked on the Road King because its yours…?”

Naomi lifted her head and smiled wanly.

“Yeah...thanks, I think I will...I just couldn’t face the Y again today. Even the sodding maid feels sorry for me after...well, you know?”

Effy smiled again, this time with a bit more warmth. Thank fuck, she thought, I thought I was gonna be hearing this tale of woe all day. 

“Right...well, you have that orange juice, or there’s fresh coffee in the cafetière over there? Help yourself...I’m just gonna have a quick shower and change into something fresh. You could always join me...you know…I know something that’ll definitely make you feel a bit better?” she winked comically.

Naomi choked back a laugh despite her misery. 

“Maybe a bit too soon Eff?” she smiled weakly, “...but thanks for the offer?”

XXX

The blonde stared out of the large window at the Perth skyline as she waited for Effy to shower. Her insides still felt like she’d been hollowed out, but the other girl was right. There is nothing like hearing an ex getting it on with someone new to firmly close the door on any chance of a reconciliation. No...she thought grimly, it is what it is, I have to move on, painful as it seems now.

XXX

Effy hummed to herself as she showered. The worst was over out there, she mused. Naomi was well fucked up about this Emily girl, but allowing her to spill it all out this morning was obviously therapeutic. Despite her earlier, less charitable thoughts, Effy wasn’t completely amoral. There was something strangely compelling about this biker chick. Hard on the outside but soft as marshmallow inside. She felt herself wondering what it would be like to have an actual girlfriend around, rather than just a convenient and attractive fuck buddy? It took a few seconds, but she counted back anyway...it had been, what...four girls ago she’d actually gone on more than two dates with anyone? Maybe it was a good opportunity to try it on for size. Naomi was hurt, yes but she’d come to Effy first to weep and try to get some comfort. OK, she might be alone in town, but surely there was a mother, a sister somewhere to talk to on the phone? Apparently not. Which gave Effy pause for thought. The sex had been great, but Naomi was very easy to have around, even out of bed. Once she’d got this Emily chick out of her system, she’d probably stick around for a while in Perth. But not if Naomi stayed on at the Y. Quite apart from the possibility of overhearing more sexual gymnastics, there would be a better than average chance they’d keep bumping into each other..which might have unintended consequences. Consequences Effy decided she could do without.

Towelling her long hair, standing naked in front of the in the bathroom mirror, Effy came to a decision. The three apartments over the shop were big and roomy. Tony only used his when he wanted to keep whatever squeeze he was currently pumping a secret. Like the wife of a friend (yes really). Effy’s mother had moved out a year ago, preferring to live in the suburbs and commute in. Effys own apartment was next to the empty one in the middle (just one night listening to her brother hammering some unfortunate into a mattress was enough for her to insist on them living with a couple of rooms between them). Which meant she could make Naomi an attractive offer. One she was unlikely to refuse, given her current accommodation.

XXX

Naomi

I drank two black coffees waiting for Effy to emerge from the shower. I spent the time just looking vacantly out of the big picture window towards the cityscape across the Swan. I could clearly see the top of the eleven storey Jewell House across the river and wondered if I’d ever be able to go back there. The chances of bumping into a newly hooked up Emily were way too high for me to view that as anything but a miserable prospect. But where else could I go? Coming here, bending Effy’s ear and using up her tissues was one thing. But we’d had one night of sex, then I bounced her on the off chance of getting back with Emily. Not really the basis of a lasting relationship?

But, after this morning going back to my room at the Y was a definite no no. I had to find somewhere else to stay... today. I just can’t stand the thought of seeing my ex again so soon after...well, so soon. Maybe Effy is right, maybe I need a good loveless shag and some different surroundings, so I can move on. But the shag is unappealing, attractive as Effy is. Sex has awkward connotations right now, so I think I’ll leave that option for the moment. But surely Effy will know people in the city apart from doormen? Maybe she has a friend with a spare room? I decided to ask her as soon as she came out.

When she did, all thoughts of accommodation fell stunned from my mind. I know she said she was having a shower, but for fucks sake...coming out of the bathroom with just a small towel on her head was a proper show stopper?

“Jesus Effy...” I spluttered as she walked buck naked across the floor of the lounge and headed towards what I assumed was a changing room. Her body was just as gorgeous in the daylight as it had been just a day or so ago in the moonlight of her room. That night I’d virtually been led by the nose to the double bed and hadn’t really noticed my surroundings, but now, all I could do was stare hungrily at her. She’d turned towards me by then, an amused smirk on her face. Droplets of water clung to her pale shoulders and on pink nipples tipping those cute cone shaped boobs. God she’s fit, my mind screamed at me. I tried to drag my eyes upwards, but failed dismally. Her smile widened as I had to physically turn away to form whole words.

“Fucking hell...hello, broken heart alert?...Earth to Effy…?” I joked with a wobble in my voice. 

I heard her throaty chuckle and the sound of what I hoped was a towel being wrapped round that spectacular body.

Luckily, when I dared to turn round, I was right. The towel on her head had been unwrapped and folded around her. But being so small, it hid very little. Obviously Miss Stonem puts very little store by modesty. I coughed nervously and started to speak, but she shushed me and sat on the very edge of the chair opposite me. I felt like I might have to physically push my eyes upwards with my thumbs at one point. I could see long smooth thighs and she wasn’t making much effort to keep her legs closed. I have ample personal experience of that smooth place between those slender thighs and was actually a little bit grateful I didn’t get the chance to talk right then. I would have sounded like I’d inhaled a whole helium balloon…

“I was thinking...” she said crossing her legs and threatening me with a minor heart attack “...you must be just about fed up with that YMCA?”

Trusting my voice a bit more now, I answered her.

“You bet” I said firmly “...the last thing I want to do is bump into E...her and her little fuck buddy.,..I’d rather eat my own eyes”

She laughed, leaning back in the chair and giving me another wrestling match with my treacherous brain. 

“That would be such a waste...they’re spectacular Naomi, as I’m sure other people have told you before?”

“Yeah, a certain tiny brunette not a million miles away, currently devouring an Asian delicacy” my mind hissed at me. But I just shrugged at the compliment.

“Look, I’ve been thinking” she said “...if you don’t want to go back to the Y tonight, there’s a spare apartment next door to this one. My brother Tony only uses the other one occasionally and at the moment, his air crew girlfriend is in town, so he’ll be shacked up with her at some airport hotel, emptying the mini bar. That means you’ll get some sleep and there’s no chance of bumping into that vocal ex of yours...the offers open ended...no rent?”

I winced again at her little joke, but there was never going to be an argument from me about the suggestion about staying here. If she’d said she wanted me to sleep on her couch I might have had some reservations. I was still strongly attracted to her despite my heartache, and being in that close a proximity all night was a temptation I knew I would find hard, if not impossible to resist. 

So I said yes. Happily.

Lucky for my reviving libido, Effy didn’t want to seal the deal with a hug. I don’t think the small towel would have survived it and having a fully naked Effy in my arms wasn’t something I wanted to test myself with. Not yet at least.

XXX

Half an hour later, I’d been given a set of keys that would let me in the back entrance and up the stairs to the apartments. Effy had said she’d come with me to the Y to collect my things. I was grateful for the moral support. Going back in there was hard enough. Bumping into Emily or that Indian bitch wasn’t something I looked forward to. With any luck, I would be in and out without seeing either of them.

We used the truck to get back across the river. The Harley could stay out the back of the shop, in a locked enclosure. Safer than being at the Y anyway. We pulled up in the same yard we’d first met in. Deja vu maybe, but I wasn’t in the mood to linger. While Effy sat in the cab listening to the local FM station, I ducked inside the building and got the lift to the top floor. People were milling about as usual, but no one I recognised, thank God.

I got to my room unseen and quickly packed my side pannier with everything that was laying about on chairs and counter tops. I’d actually paid for another two nights already, but it was a price I was more than willing to pay to get the hell out of here. Once I had the pannier bulging with stuff, I took a last look round the room. Nothing. It was reasonably tidy and cleansed of everything personal to me. My passport and driving licence were in my pocket so I had nothing left to stay for.

The ride down in the lift was similarly stress free. Apart from Japanese tourists and smelly backpackers, there was nothing to make my heart race. 

I stepped into the lobby and took a deep breath. Again, a few randoms were wandering about, but no familiar faces. I queued for about 3 minutes behind some latecomers who were asking after a room. The guy on reception was trying to explain to the couple, who looked English, that the place was completely full, so I took the opportunity to lean over their shoulders and interrupt.

“Actually...I’m vacating early mate...I’ve got eleven twelve on the top floor. My stuff is all out of there...so…?”

The couple, who were indeed English, judging by the excited way they greeted my interference, duly grabbed my old room on the spot. I waited patiently while the reception guy did the obligatory tapping on his keyboard, informing me that I could apply for a refund of the room rate, but that it would take two weeks to refund me. The fuck I gave about that was so infinitesimally small, it would take a microscope to find it. I waved away his offer of vouchers and walked away from reception feeling a bit better than I left here this morning.

Getting out into the sunshine and seeing Effy tapping her fingers on the dash as she waited for me, my heart lifted a bit. This morning might have been utter shit...maybe the rest of the day would be better. She started the diesel as I crossed the courtyard and grinned at me struggling with the heavy pannier.

“Want a hand with that, sexy…?” she called out as I slung the luggage into the back of the truck cab “...always ready to give some assistance to a lady in distress?”

My ‘fuck off, cheeky bitch’ was met with laughter and a goose of my arse as I turned to get in the passenger seat. For once in my life, I didn’t slap away a wandering hand.

XXX

“What do you mean checked out...she was here this morning?...I went up to her room at lunch time...the guy next door said she’d just gone to pick up her bike or something?”

Emily stared in in disbelief at the stoic face of the Chinese guy on reception. He shrugged.

“Miss Campbell checked out earlier this afternoon Miss Fitch..the room has been occupied again by new travellers...sorry, she didn't leave a forwarding address?

Emily felt a cold chill sweep over her. Checked out? Maybe it was too late to make amends now after all. 

Shreya, after going with her to the bank this afternoon, had said she should forget Naomi...move on with her life. Looked like she didn’t have a choice any more…


	16. Sixteen

Emily

I’ve had a lot of time to think today, After that sexy wake up call this morning and the sheer embarrassment of the housekeeper encounter, its been eventful enough for a whole month already. And thats without finding out that Naomi has checked out of the Y.

Not that I blame her...it must have been horrific hearing us two go at it. It seems my previous persona, you know...as the mousy little twin who never says much because her big sister takes up all the limelight...that one? Well, I’ve had a bit of a personality transformation. Ten out of ten for guessing who brought about that change, and just a hint, it isn’t the fragrant and flexible Shreya, despite my uninhibited audio performance today. 

No, the reason I now seem so free and noisily appreciative when I’m in bed with a girl is because of one Naomi Campbell. It was her that woke me up, took me away from my boring mundane existence back in Victoria and showed me not just what good sex was about, but how big the world is and how easy it can be to reach out for things you want.

So me letting her walk out on me not once, but twice, is why I’m sitting in my room (bed made and fresh linen reminding me awkwardly about this morning) looking out of the window, wondering if its really too late to get back to what I had.

Don’t get me wrong, Shreya is really great. Warm, friendly and frankly dynamite in bed. But something tells me she won’t be around for ever. Its been a bit of a whirlwind, meeting her, becoming good friends then lovers...all in less than 48 hours. Which I suppose is similar to the way I fell for Naomi. But it IS different. Not just because Shreya is bi and quite possibly a lot more ‘friendly’ with her mate Josh than she lets on...but because I’m still very much attracted to Naomi, and more than attracted if I’m honest. The ‘L’ word was never actually spoken by either of us, but if she just fancied me as a shag, why would she even take the trouble to try to speak to me again this morning? I’d been pretty savage yesterday in that lift and she probably still has that stunning mechanic’s number. If it was just casual sex, no one would be that concerned about me hooking up with Shreya, would they?

The look of utter contempt I got from the housemaid shocked me rigid. Obviously Naomi had been more than just a little upset at hearing me and Shreya having sex. You don’t get that bent out of shape if you’re just a tiny bit pissed off that your ex has moved on, now do you? At least she had the excuse... when she enjoyed her own bit of infidelity... that I could have been anywhere in the continent by then...even maybe back home with my not so loving family. Whereas I was fully aware that Naomi wasn’t just in Perth, but in the same fucking building. How callous does that make me feel? Hardly the little wallflower now, am I?

But how to put it right?

I know part of my introspection is due to the fact that Shreya isn’t coming back to see me tonight, leaving me to brood alone in my room. After we went to the bank this afternoon so I could pay her back the $50 I owed her for the room change, she came back here with me and waited in the bedroom just until I got changed. When I came out of the bathroom, she was suddenly all business, telling me that she hadn’t got time to hang about, then left straight away. I thought that was a bit abrupt, to be honest...specially after this mornings little ‘work out’. The kiss goodbye I got was what they call ‘perfunctory’ I think. In any case, she’s gone for the rest of the day and I won’t see her till the morning...something about an job interview over in Fremantle, so meanwhile I’ve got plenty of time to sit and ponder my lot.

Not that its proving very comfortable. 

I tried asking a few people around if they’d seen a blonde girl with striking blue eyes today, specially any sitting on a rather large Harley Davidson, but I just got blank looks. She’s disappeared into thin air. Perth is suddenly big and intimidating again now I’m on my own and I’ve lost the incentive to go explore the gay bars temporarily. Going to bars with Naomi on the way here, then with Shreya in Perth was easy. Always someone familiar to talk to and even hide behind if things got too intense.

Which brought my mind round to the reason I ended up in Perth alone in the first place. That incident in the seedy bar with those would be hayseed rapists. Looking back it seems unbelievable that I would even try to blame Naomi for protecting me. Of course she would. Weeks on the road had given her a sort of radar for man trouble and I know without her, I would have been sitting on that rented bed at the motel, waiting meekly for the stringy haired fucker with yellow teeth to knock on my door and fuck me senseless. It was Naomi who spotted danger right off and got us packed and ready to leave. It was Naomi who, faced with a bigger, stronger person, used the only weapon she had once words failed, to stop him just hustling us straight into that bar for him and his mates to use at their leisure. And it was Naomi who gave us just enough time with that little knife, for the old guy with the shotgun to prevent anything worse happening to us.

And what did I do in return? Let my small town fears and provincial inhibitions overcome me. Faking a fucking orgasm?...giving her the cold shoulder? What the fuck Emily? 

The person who made love to me over and over and made me feel like a princess on our journey here was reduced in my head to some sort of fucked up pastiche of my mother and sister, set on dominating and suppressing me. My own jumbled brain was to blame, not her. If I hadn’t asked to travel with her, I’d probably still be in my own house right now, ‘looking forward’ to a tedious split shift at the grocery and a night fending off whoever Katie had decided was the second prize winner in the ‘bag a Fitch’ stakes. 

Instead of that, I’m sitting in a room in central Perth, having had sex with two beautiful women in quick succession, able to live my own life in any way I want.

So why aren’t I cheering about that?

Simple...because the person who made all this possible isn’t here. I won’t say it came to me in a blinding flash, because it didn’t. I’ve known it all along really. Naomi is the one...the one I’ve waited for for 18 years and the one I’ve traded for next to nothing. I like Shreya, I fancy Shreya...Jesus, I love shagging Shreya. But she isn’t Naomi. Why has it taken me this long to work it out?

If I’d had the courage to just tell my blonde what was worrying me back at that motel, all of this shit could have been avoided. I know she feels more for me than just attraction. She might not have said it, but everything she did for me screamed it from the rooftops.

“Naomi loves me” I said to the empty room.

There, I’ve said it out loud. Naomi loves me and...and I love her back. As the words bounced off the walls and echoed back at me, it seems so obvious now, I almost laughed hysterically, despite still feeling like shit. Naomi loves me and I love her.

Of course.

I got up and ran my hands through my hair distractedly. I have no idea where she is...but I know where that Harley is, or was. They’d know where she might be now, or at least where she’s headed next. Right, I thought, Shreya is AWOL till tomorrow, that gives me the rest of the day to get my arse in gear and find Naomi. I will fix this…

Grabbing my purse and phone, I left the room and took the stairs two at a time down to the lobby. I needed a bus to the other side of the river. On the way in, I’d seen the big glossy Harley dealership by the main road. It was less than a couple of kilometres away. Time to get busy finding my girl…

XXX

Across the river, just about the time Emily was getting her Damascan revelation, Effy Stonem was walking downstairs to the workshop, leaving Naomi to have her own shower in the empty spare apartment and get changed. The move had been seamless so far she thought. A nice meal tonight somewhere intimate, some quality wine instead of the harsh sting of vodka and she could slip Naomi into her bed and complete the takeover. Simple.

She smirked to herself as the eyes of the male mechanics followed her across the smooth grey surface of the workshop floor. Unlike the old repair shop, this was more like an operating theatre than a grubby garage. People who paid $35000 for a new Harley expected their chosen service centre to be like a Formula One race pod. Clinical, shiny and full of expensive equipment. The rows of 8 tier red tool cabinets along the wall were stuffed with pricey hand tools and the walls themselves bristled with air gun hoses, power lines and glossy posters of the latest kit. Benches stood with laptops and diagnostic equipment along the centre. There were brushed alloy ramps and neatly stacked new motorcycle parts in greased paper, fresh from the docks, off American container ships. Everything about the place screamed expensive. It went some way to justifying the eye watering prices the Stonem’s charged for repairs and servicing.

Something Naomi need never know. Effy had applied some generous discounting to the already reduced bill for giving her Road King the full VIP treatment. Instead of the $380 standard service tariff, Effy had knocked it down to a much more reasonable $150. Scarcely enough to cover an hours labour and the oil and fluids required. But then, she mused, Naomi had paid her back in other, much more pleasant ways. The other night was still vivid in Effy’s memory. She always tried the strap on move on prospective shags. Even ones as pretty as Naomi Campbell. If they shied away from the penetration, Effy knew they wouldn’t last the course anyway. But the blonde had taken to it like a trooper. The brunette suspected Naomi was a natural top too, so it was doubly satisfying that she’d surrendered so easily. 

The rest of the sex had been more...conventional..but just one night in bed with the blonde had left Effy wanting more, something she rarely craved. No...with this Emily creature on the outs, the way was clear to have a lot more fun with Naomi...at least until Effy tired of her.

All of which was well and good until Effy turned the corner, meaning to slip into the showroom and check today’s sales. Her way was blocked by a small and very pretty brunette with liquid brown eyes. They literally bumped shins as they collided.

XXX

“Oh shit!” I gasped as a pair of slim but strong arms stopped me falling sideways. I’d just been into the showroom at the front and one of the smooth sales guys had pointed me in this direction. 

“Yeah” he smiled, giving me the benefit of his megawatt lasered smile “I know the girl you mean...she’s upstairs I think, in Effy’s apartment. The Road King is ready now, so she’s probably just settling the...err... bill?”

Again the smile, but this time a bit more forced. I caught his sideways glance to the other guy sitting at a desk tapping on a keyboard, pretending not to eavesdrop. I might be a novice lesbian, but I’m also a woman. Guys are so predictable. The expression on both their faces told me there was a lot more to ‘settling up’ than flashing your Gold Card. My stomach sank.

Fuck, there was me, thinking the pretty mechanic just worked here. That one glance told me there was a lot more going on than I thought.

And now I’d gone and crashed into the scruffy mechanic herself. Except she was anything but scruffy today. No oily baseball cap, no shapeless overalls. I got the full ‘look at me’ treatment when we’d separated and I had the chance to see her properly. God, she was fucking gorgeous. Taller than me by 4 inches at least. Willowy but curves in all the right places. She had on a gossamer thin grey top with a black lace bra underneath. Below that a really short black skirt. No tights...just what looked like models legs that went on forever. Her skin was pale but tinged with just the right amount of WA tan. Her eyes were even more vivid close up. I’d only seen them before from my YMCA window. This close they gave Naomi’s a run for their money. Not as piercingly blue, more scattered with speckled green flecks. But just as stunning.

I swallowed hard. Fuck...if this one had her hooks in Naomi, I was gonna have to put on a world class performance to get her back.

“Can I help?” she said “...the showrooms back that way, miss?”

I shook my head. She knew exactly who I was. No way had Naomi not spilled about this mornings ‘encounter’. The girls spectacular eyes narrowed a little as I struggle for words. What to say?

“Look...you must be...umm, Effy?” I said, folding my arms across my chest and then immediately uncrossing them as a tiny smirk crossed her features. Defensive posture Emily...I chided myself.

She nodded and looked me up and down again. Something I was already getting tired of.

“I’m Emily...Emily Fitch” I said, knowing introductions were unnecessary. This one had worked me out the second she saw me.

“I’m looking for my gi...my friend Naomi?” I tried, Again the little secret smile. I was half a second from wiping it off her face with a roundhouse slap. A Fitch speciality which was about the only good lesson I learned from my sister. I didn’t for two reasons. One, it would hardly endear me to Naomi if I started slapping around the girl who was comforting her after I’d made her cry, and two, this girl looked the type who would slap back, probably twice as hard. It would be a little unproductive to chat with my ex sporting a black eye or worse?

So instead of violence, I tried reason.

“Look...I know Naomi probably hates me right now...Jesus, I fucking hate me. But I need to make this right. Its all my fault. I let her down, back on the road and...and well, she deserves an explanation?”

Effy stayed silent for a moment then shrugged.

“She’s hurting Emily...really hurting. You and your little fuck buddy really did a number on her today? Don’t you think it might be better to leave it for now? I’ll tell her you called round. Maybe you can meet up for a coffee tomorrow or something...you know, when thing shave calmed down?”

It all sounded so reasonable, but I know when I’m being swerved. The coffee would never happen. If I walked away now, Naomi would never even know I was here. Which was obviously Effys plan. Part of me didn’t blame her for wanting to hang on to ‘my’ blonde. If I’d been cleverer, none of this would ever have happened in the first place. I’d be in a double room with Naomi this fine morning, entertaining the people next door with verbal pyrotechnics I would not be ashamed of afterwards.

I shook my head.

“Nope...thats not happening. I need to see her Effy...so if you’ll just...” I made to walk past her but my elbow was held in a grip that made me wince. I’d been right about hidden strengths. 

“Fuck, that hurt” I said loudly, hoping someone might emerge from the workshop to see what the fuss was about, but no one did. “Look, this is stupid. I just want to talk to her? She’s not a fucking prisoner here, is she?”

The grip on my elbow slackened, but she was still standing between me and the door, one that presumably led upstairs. I was convinced by then that I would find Naomi up there if I could just get past this implacable gatekeeper.

“Not happening Emily” she smiled without humour. “I promised her I would give her somewhere safe to stay for a bit...you know, until your ‘friend’ gets tired of making you scream the Y down every morning?”

My eyes widened at that low blow. It might be true, but it still felt like she’d punched me in the solar plexus.

“Who made you her keeper/” I said, knowing my voice was wobbling. The old meek and feeble Emily Fitch was making a reappearance now I was faced with something...someone so intractable. This slim but muscular girl had my measure and I knew it would be a waste of time to argue any more. So I nodded in acceptance. One battle lost, but the war was going to go on.

“OK...but Effy...?” I said, pulling free of her grip “...I’m not giving up. I need to see her, to speak to her. I’m sorry for hurting her and I have to put it right”

She arched an eyebrow and nodded back.

“So...can I give her a message?” I said, not expecting a yes. But she inclined her head slightly, which I took as agreement. Even a little chink of light is welcome in a pitch dark world. “tell her I’m sorry, that I never meant to hurt her? Shreya is a friend...”

Again the smirk.

“OK, she ‘s been more than a friend lately...but Effy?”

She waited for me to finish without speaking.

“Tell Naomi this, if nothing else...tell her I love her?”

For the first time since I got here, I got a genuine reaction. Her blue eyes opened wide and she blinked several times. I don’t think she was expecting that declaration this bright sunny morning.

“Right” she drawled slowly “Well Emily, its been nice meeting you. I’ll give Naomi your message”

I didn’t believe her for a second, but I just hoped what I said would register. I do love Naomi and because I do...and I think she loves me, this Effy Stonem creature will have to treat me as a real threat from now on.

I won’t say I felt good walking away, but I felt a whole lot better than I did two minutes ago.

XXX

As Emily walked back across the front lot, past the shiny showroom, she didn’t look up. If she had, she would have seen a slim figure staring out of the top floor window. A figure that swayed a little as she registered who the petite visitor had been. An arm lifted as if to call her back, but was quickly dropped. Emily didn’t look up and as she reached the other side of the busy highway, a city bus droned to a stop, the doors hissing open. When she did look up at the building opposite, the figure had disappeared. Emily got on and sighed as the bus pulled away. Nothing more she could do for the moment. But her and Shreya needed a proper talk, pronto. Time to put things straight. No more sex filled nights with the dusky beauty...operation Naomi was on.

XXX

Two miles away, the Indian Pacific train was just starting its engines. On board, in a Gold Superior Service double cabin, two excited travellers dropped their luggage on the floor and bounced together on the double bed. Single tickets to Sydney via Adelaide were slid onto the window shelf. 

“Fuck, this is ace Shre?” Josh grinned widely “now this is the way to travel babe?”

His companion grinned widely and reached over to him. Unzipping his shorts she fished out her favourite part of his anatomy.

“I think this calls for a complimentary blow job Joshy...I mean, what’s the point of Gold Service if you don’t make use of the excellent room service?”

The boy chuckled happily before lying back on the bed as the city scenery began to blur outside.

“Must remember to send Emily Fitch a postcard” he said as the girl began to work on him “...many thanks for the company and the cash...but quite glad you’re NOT here right now…?”

XXX


	17. Seventeen

Emily

It must have been fate. Although I was prevented from seeing Naomi at all by her way too attractive guard dog, that bus coming along just as I got to the other side of the highway was a blessing. Not because I had any enthusiasm for going back to the Y, probably to sit and stare at the walls all night. Nope...because at the very next stop, less than half a kilometre away, the bus groaned to a halt next to a convenience store. And no, I wasn’t looking for a bottle of vodka to anaesthetise myself with...not yet anyway. But outside, on one of those rotating spinners they have, was a selection of gaily coloured occasion cards.

Wait, I hear you say...who’s fucking birthday is it, because it sure isn’t Christmas? 

Wrong again. In the time it took for the doors to hiss open, I was up and running for the exit. The driver gave me a sideways glance as I squeezed past the boarding passengers. He must have noticed that I was getting off way before the stop I’d paid to go to. But I’m guessing he was used to crazy tourists. I jumped down and apologised the the florid man in glasses who’s foot I’d stepped on. I got a glare rather than an acknowledgement, but by then my eyes were on the shop, not him.

I scanned the racks, but couldn’t find what I was looking for. Plenty of postcards of the cityscape, plenty of Happy Birthday and Congratulations cards, but not what I was hunting for. As the bus pulled away behind me, I was almost resigned to giving up and waiting for the next one into town. But right at the bottom of the spinner, tucked behind a darkly florid commiserations card, was just what I wanted. 

Nothing special to look at. Just an A5 card with a cute puppy on the front. But inside was what I wanted. 

Nothing. Just a blank pair of pages.

Just the job I thought as I fumbled in my pocket for the $2 I needed to buy it. Then I remembered I didn’t have a pen. And the shop didn’t sell them. So I put on the best puppy dog expression of my own I could muster and asked the middle aged Asian woman behind the counter if I could borrow hers. You’d think it was 24 carat gold by the way she grudgingly handed the pen over and watched me anxiously as I searched for a flat surface to write on. I may not be a candidate for citizen of the year, but I draw the line at running out of a grocery store with a 50 cent biro…fucks sake...whatever happened to trust?

Anyway, message written and the envelope folded and sealed carefully over the card, I thanked the still anxious shop manager and handed her back the pen with a grateful smile. She grimaced at me briefly, then immediately began rattling something in Gujerati into the phone she’d picked up while I was writing. I don’t think lending a pen is really international news, but who knows...It must be a really boring job?

Back in the sunshine, I quickly walked back down the main road, scanning for a safe place to cross. No point in this mission if I end up in Perth General with two broken legs, is there?

I managed it a few metres from where I originally crossed over. The showroom was just as glossy, just as intimidating, but I felt better internally than the last time I approached. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to persuade this Effy woman to do me any favours. Five minutes in her company had told me me everything I needed to know about where her sympathies lay. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that she wanted Naomi for herself. For that I had some sympathy. So did I. I’d let my girl slip through my hands once and this Effy was right in pole position to replace me. 

But even if I am the milder, quieter twin, some of the Fitch fire burns fierce inside me. Giving up now just wasn’t an option.

I slipped round the back of the building, avoiding the sales department altogether. If that’s where Effy was going when I bumped into her ten minutes ago, its a place I definitely didn’t want to be. I got to the door where we’d stood outside talking and tried the handle.

Locked. Fuckety fuck. There was a key-code panel beside the shiny aluminium door, but no way of bypassing it.

I looked around, hoping I could see another way in, but none revealed itself. I’d need to be cleverer then.

Just as I looked quickly back towards the front of the building, checking for the sexy mechanic (although I should stop calling her that, she’s obviously some sort of management here), a young guy in overalls just like Effy had been wearing the other day, appeared from the workshop with a big motorcycle wheel and tyre in his hands. He was heading for what looked like those tyre inflation machines you see guys using to remove the rubber from wheels when you get a puncture?

He didn’t see me straight off, so I took the opportunity to do a bit of ‘Katie’ fettling. Never let it be said that I didn’t learn a few tricks from my obliging sister. I may not have used my tits quite as provocatively as her, but I know men, even if I view the idea of shagging one as repulsive. Nothing gets you a favour like the creamy swell of half revealed boobs. So I unbuttoned my shirt way below where I would ever normally have it and coughed delicately.

I got the double take. One look of surprise and the next of drooling appreciation. The guy must have been the apprentice. He looked no older than 18. Perfect.

“Excuse me...” I said, walking towards him and not reacting in my normal way to a guy who was having erotic visual conversations with my tits “...I need to deliver this card to...err...” I pretended to scan the envelope for the name of the recipient “..umm Naomi Campbell... I understand she’’s staying here for the time being?”

He gulped a bit, bounced the tyre down by his feet and smirked. So far, so predictable. But I was on a timetable. I had no way of knowing how long I had before Miss Smartartse 2016 came back. Time for a little less subtlety then. I approached him and forced a dreamy smile onto my face.

“I’d be so grateful...err..?” I simpered, pushing my arms together so my cleavage made the most of my modest assets. I swear the front of those overalls twitched. Jesus, I thought, this is above and beyond?

But he took the bait. Rubbing his blackened hands together, he smiled back, this time even looking up at my face.

“Umm, its...Tommy...uh, yeah , I heard Miss Stonem had a guest staying?”

I bet she does I thought bitterly, but with some effort, kept the dumb brunette smile on my face. Tommy’s eyes did another grand tour of my tits before he spoke again.

“I could...err, I could find Miss Stonem for you if you like, miss...I think she’s in the showroo...”

“No” I said a bit too sharply “I mean...no need to bother her Tommy..I’m sure she’s very busy. Its just that this card is very urgent. I don’t suppose you could let me in...so I can deliver it to Miss Campbell myself?”

For the first time since he’d spotted me, a sliver of doubt crossed his face. I realised I might have pushed my luck too far, even with my tits as back up. So I coughed politely and backtracked.

“No...of course, thats not...err, look, I have to be somewhere right now in fact...but if you’d deliver it for me I’d be sooo grateful? I’m new to Perth and I don’t really know my way around...if you do me this little favour,...maybe we could meet up in town later...you know, you could show me the best places to have a good time?”

I fluttered my eyelashes for good measure. Overkill never harmed my sisters chances.

Hook line and fucking sinker, I think they call it. His eyes glazed over at the prospect of his grubby hands getting to discover the territory his eyes had been caressing for a good while. He swallowed hard and rubbed his hands again on the front of his overalls. I think they call that unconscious anticipation. My skin crawled at what must have been going through his sewer..I mean mind right then.

“Uh, yeah...sure, I can do that for you...err..?”

“Emily” I said, flashing him a winning smile. I had to look away as he reached for the envelope, this time I know there was a twitch from lower down. Erections...who’d fucking have ‘em? Well, apart from my sister of course.

I handed him the envelope and beamed again gratefully.

“Tommy...this is very important...you have to deliver this to Miss Campbell personally, OK? Its a family thing and she needs to see it like right now?

I knew I was pushing too hard, but I might run out of luck any second. If Effy saw the card and/or me, it would be in the bin without Naomi even knowing it existed.

Luckily, old Tommy was being led by his eager dick at present. He took the card from me and grinned.

“I’ll do it right now...uh, Emily. So...what time do you want picking up tonight...I know this great club in Northridge, lots of good beer and a heavy rock band?”

I suppressed the shudder that was threatening to show. A night to remember that would be...in the company of Tommy the mechanic and his no doubt equally priapic mates. Deafened, drunk, then pounded over a trash can in an alley or worse. No fucking thanks.

“Err...if you pick me up outside the station about 7.30...I’m staying nearby?” I lied glibly. The station was suitably distant from the Y. Far enough anyway.

He grinned again hopefully and leaned the flat tyre and wheel against the wall. I carried on smiling in mute encouragement as he keyed in a code onto the panel, shielding it from me as he did. He obviously wasn’t that stupid? Then he disappeared inside, waving to me dorkily through the glass as he went up the stairs.

The smile dropped from my face as he was lost to view. Thank fuck for that, I thought grimly, flirting with gangly mechanics is definitely Katies forte, not mine.

Never mind, I mused with satisfaction as I got the hell out of Dodge, mission accomplished. Or at least stage one…

 

XXX

Naomi

 

The knock on the door came as a shock, I was lost in thought, staring out of the window and chewing on my nails. That was definitely Emily I’d seen crossing the front car park, What the fuck did she want here?

Harsh memories of this mornings little audio show flooded into my head as I stood there worrying. If she’d actually come to see me, why did she leave without doing just that? And if not, what reason could she have for visiting a Harley dealers otherwise?

Curious.

My heart felt heavy and dull. She is still the sexiest thing on God’s green earth, even compared to the delicious Ms Stonem. Effy is effortlessly sexy, gloriously uninhibited and great company. But my heart refused to accompany my head on the sensible journey I wanted it to take. Despite overhearing Emily being pleasured by her coffee coloured new lover so recently, my body still went into overload just seeing her. That long dark hair swaying in the breeze, the swing of those slim hips and her pert...”Oh for fucks sake Naomi”, I said out loud, its over, let it fucking lie.

Except of course it isn’t. I’m hurt and devastated by what I witnessed even second hand, but its hardly cheating is it? I was the one who slept with someone else first. And if Emily hadn’t shown up this morning, shattering all my resolutions, I’d probably have let Effy have her wicked way with me again, like tonight?

I have no doubt that Ms Stonem fancies the pants off me. But unlike Emily, she doesn’t make my heart thump. She makes it race alright, with her stunning eyes and fabulous body, but there’s a difference between wanting to shag her stupid and day dreaming about an actual future with her. With Emily, although we never gave it a name, it was deeper. It might have been early days still, but I was beginning, before the hayseed brothers ambushed us, to consider asking Emily to be my proper girlfriend. You know, mutual exclusivity and planning something permanent together? Well, that might be out of the question right now, but like I said, my heart is ignoring my analytical head.

I sighed as the knock at the door came again. Harder this time. It couldn’t be Effy...obviously she had a key. Unlikely to be her brother as she’d told me his ‘spare’ apartment was the other side of the hallway. Only one way to find out, I walked to the door and opened it.

Outside, shuffling from foot to foot... was one of the mechanics from downstairs. I sighed again. Once again, my heart had tried to persuade my head that it might actually be Emily, having taken some Dutch courage or something. 

“Yes?” I said briskly. His eyes eventually moved up from my nipples to my own. Fucking guys...never get over the curve of a female breast, do they? This one was no more than a boy really, but I think they put something in the cornflakes when male children are growing up. A tit fetish elixir or something?

He smiled winningly and I waited with stony eyes as he held out something in his grubby hand. An envelope, once white, but now indelibly smudged with engine oil from his fingers.

I took it with one hand and raised my eyebrow at him. I had an eye roll in reserve, just in case, but I wanted to conserve ammunition. This kid looked like a harsh word would send him running downstairs to teacher. 

“Message?” I said, when he showed no signs of recovering from his encounter with my 34b’s.

“Oh...uh yes...umm… a girl gave me this to give to you. Small, brown hair...really pretty eyes...she said I had to give this to you straight awa...”

I don’t know what the rest of that sentence was because I kicked the door shut in his face and spun round, walking quickly back into the apartment bedroom. I saw my name on the envelope, in a rounded, unmistakeably feminine hand.

“Emily” I said to myself. To put the matter to rest once and for all, as I started to reach inside, I caught a whiff of strawberries and vanilla. It made my throat close up as if I was coming down with a cold. Emily...it even smelled like her. It was like she was in the room with me.

Inside was a small card. I smiled to myself as the price sticker stared up at me from the back of it. $2. She must have been in a rush, forgetting to take that off. I may not know her as well as I’d like, but some things...like her attention to detail, are burned into my brain. Taking a deep breath, I turned the card over and smiled again. A cute brown and white spaniel puppy stared out at me. Again, so Emily.

I opened the card and read the words inside.

Naoms

I fucked up really badly and I wanted to apologise. First for you having to hear, well you know what I mean. Second, for being the biggest idiot in Australia. 

I’m no good with romantic declarations. But I know what I feel inside.

I love you. Have done from the moment I first set eyes on you. We never said it to each other. It always seemed too soon. So I left it until you were ready to tell me. 

Which you never got the chance to, because I was a total tit and let you down.

But I think you do. Love me back that is. All I want is the chance to prove it to you. So I’m making you a promise. No more pretending. No more Shreya. Its you I want.

If you feel the same way, I’ll be at the Y until Friday morning. I know you and you’ll need some time to consider all this. But I’ll wait until Friday for you to decide. You deserve that much. Please believe me. I do love you?

Emily XXX

Oh, and this is my new mobile number. I lost the old one.

07982 059664

XXX

I re read the card about twenty fucking times. Then I looked up at my reflection in the wall mirror opposite. A goofy fucking smile made me sit up straight. What the fuck Naomi, I scolded myself...what, one soppy card and everything is OK again?

Too right, my heart cheered back. But I’m not that easily swayed, even if I felt giddy with excitement that she’d said out loud (well, written) what I’ve wanted to hear from her since about the second day on the road. I’d been the same as her, wanting the other party to confess first. What a pair of tits we were.

But my first impulse, to run downstairs and, failing catching her before she leaves, get the next bus into town, was resisted.

“Take the time she offers you” my brain said firmly “...if she’s sincere, what’s the hurry? At the very least, she needs to kick that Indian girl to the kerb, like tonight. Otherwise I’d be letting myself in for another world of pain. Again, memories of how vocal Emily had been just recently in her appreciation of the no doubt extensive oral skills of my rival were still sharp enough to cut deep.

I shook my head, which is ridiculous on all sorts of levels. No one is here to see it, and I’m arguing with myself for fucks sake. Maybe I needed to take several deep breaths, stay the night here and decide in the morning if I wanted to give us another chance.

“Fat chance of that NOT happening” my heart jeered at my doubtful head. OK. I decided. Its true I’m as giddy as a schoolgirl at the prospect of getting back with the girl I’m in love with (my mind did a few back flips as I rolled that thought over). I am in love with Emily Fitch...but can I trust her?

Eventually, having re read the card a few more times, just in case there was a meaning in the words I hadn’t caught the previous thirty, I put it carefully back in the envelope and tucked it into a small zip compartment in my pannier bag. I saw no reason to alert Effy at this stage to the change in my circumstances. Why not just stay here until tomorrow, have a couple of drinks with her tonight and just enjoy her company. After all, she’d been good enough to let me weep and wail to her about Emily earlier. I think I owed her a pleasant evening at the very least. Just no shagging?

Turned out to be a very pleasant, if not exactly predictable evening.

XXX

Emily

Getting back to the Y, my first impulse was to have something to eat. After this mornings ‘exercise’ and the trip across the river, I suddenly remembered that I’d had no proper breakfast, just a machine coffee. I was starving. I checked my pockets and saw I had about $30 and change. Enough for chilli and jacket potato in the diner. Shreya was away across in Fremantle, so I’d have to eat alone, but to be truthful, it was a bit of a relief she wasn’t around. Me and her would be having that ‘it’s not you it’s me’ conversation at some point in the next few hours. I made a point of deciding to visit her in her room however late she got back. If Naomi decided to call on me tomorrow, after a night thinking it over, there was no way I wanted the whole Shreya thing confusing matters. I didn’t think for a moment she would be upset about it. Friends with very nice benefits was as far as it went between us. I had no regrets about sleeping with her, apart from Naomi having to hear it that is. Me and my blonde have made our own mistakes...one each so far. I didn’t want any further fuck ups or ex’s to come between us.

I chewed on my chilli and potato reflectively as the waitresses milled about, serving other people. It was getting later by then, the lunchtime crowds were thinning. Hours to waste then…

Two hours later, I had nothing left to occupy myself. Surely Naomi had read the card by now? I assumed she was up there in the rooms above the showroom while I was distracting the soppy apprentice with my less than impressive tits. I must have pulled out my phone a hundred times to check, pointless as that was. I had it on vibrate and ring...I was hardly gonna miss a call or text, now was I?

Sitting in my room, I tried to busy myself by using the free Wi-Fi to check out other accommodation in the city. Cheeky of me, I know, but I started looking for apartments for two. Hope over expectation, isn’t that what they say? But I was bored and on tenterhooks, waiting for a call that might never come. Anything that took my mind off Nao…

Buzzzz.

Followed by a ping so loud, I swear birds took off outside. Jesus Mary and Joseph, I shouted, and grabbed the phone with both hands. I’d set the fucking volume to maximum and it was loud as hell.

Text message, the screen said. I know its a fucking text, I grumbled, even though my heart was thumping like crazy. If this was Katie. the only person but Naomi to have this number, I’d kill her. Even Shreya didn’t have this new number, so I had to take several calming breaths before hitting the open text button.

“Got yr card. It was sweet. I’ll call you tomorrow? N x”

I must have read it ten times before I even took another breath. What did she mean sweet...the words or the fucking puppy? She said she’d call...so that was great. And the little kiss at the end? I almost swooned at that. Such a little gesture, but it was the best thing that had happened all day, including the orgasm I got from Shreya. 

I cringed a bit at including sex with Shreya alongside cute kisses from Naomi, but my head was all over the place, your honour. I plead guilty to being a proper dick today.

I know I should have left it at that, but I had to answer it. Nothing too gooey, I promised myself, just an answer, right?

“That’d be gr8. Looking forward to tomorrow so much. Love you E x”

I debated about the love declaration, but I figured as I’d already said it on the card, it wouldn’t come as much of a shock to her, so in the end I sent it unedited.

No answer came for a while, and I was about to give up and go looking for courage building alcohol (dumping Shreya wasn’t something I was looking forward to) when the now quieter phone buzzed and pinged again.

“Me too. And I know Em N x”

Again, the ambiguous text sent me into a spiral of overthinking. Did she mean me too as in ‘me too looking forward to tomorrow’...or ‘me too, as in I love you back’?

Eventually, my head hurt with the permutations. I should be grateful I get to see her at all, I decided. No point in over analysing.

“Right”, I said out loud “lets get a few beers in. Not enough to get wasted, but enough to make me a bit braver. Shreya should be back before 7...time enough to get a mild buzz on”

I grabbed the few dollars I had left and headed downstairs. The shop opposite the church sold alcohol. A few tinnies of Swan inside me and things would look a whole lot better. 

I reminded myself to visit the bank again tomorrow morning to draw some serious cash. If things went well with Naomi, maybe we could start looking for somewhere more permanent to live...

XXX

Naomi

Effy, being Effy of course, knew something had happened while she’d been away. She didn’t say a word of course, I just saw her looking at me sideways with a curious look on her face several times as we shared the rather delicious lunch she had bought back with her. After checking into the showroom to update herself on a few prospective sales, she disappeared for a little while, reappearing with a couple of posh looking lunch containers.

Nothing complicated, just fruit and some green salad, freshly baked olive rolls and a couple of thick tuna steaks cooked in olive oil. The fish was fresh and she told me it was straight off a boat in the harbour. Anyway, the combination of the delicate tuna, sweet fruit and salad leaves plus the warm crusty bread was amazing. I realised this was the first time I’d actually seen her eat anything. That slim but curvy figure had to be maintained with something more substantial than drugs and alcohol, but this was the first time I saw any evidence of actual consumption.

In any case, I tucked in hungrily, not reacting to her curious glances. I was feeling miles better than I had earlier and I knew an explanation was owed, but it was easy to put it off while I was feeding my appetite. Once the plates were empty and she’d passed me a bottle of sparking mineral water. I sat back in the chair, brushed some crumbs off my shorts and went for it.

“I...I had a message when you were out?” I said quietly.

Effy blinked, but didn’t react otherwise. I wasn’t going to get any help on this, obviously.

“Emily” I said, watching for a reaction. Credit where its due, not a flicker, She took a long sip of cold water from her own bottle and then put it on the table between us.

“And…?” she said 

“...and she wants to talk to me...explain things?” I knew it sounded lame, but I wasn’t about to play mind games with an expert. Just the facts Naomi.

“Ahh...” she said, folding her hands into her lap. “...I had a feeling there was something you were holding back. So...what are you going to do about that?”

I fiddled with the button on the shirt I had put over my top. The aircon in the apartment was way more efficient than the small units in the Y, so it was quite cool indoors.

“I...Uhh, well I should at least hear what she has to say? She sent me a card...I dunno why she didn’t just knock on the door if she knew I was here, but anyway, she wants to talk?”

Again the blink, but this time there was just the merest flicker of something in those cerulean eyes. Not enough to give it a name, but afterwards, I realised Effy Stonem knew more about Emily’s visit than she was letting on.

“So...when are you checking back into the Y?” Effy said calmly.

“N...no...I’m not doing that Effy...its just a conversation?. I won’t be going anywhere today. I thought I might pop over tomorrow, maybe in the morning?”

Effy crossed her legs and regarded me keenly.

“We say that, don’t we Naomi?” she said “...hasn’t she hurt you enough?”

Several emotions slipped through my mind at that. Slight anger that she was judging me...and Emily quite so harshly. But there was truth in that statement. I was frightened that Emily might hurt me again. But that fear definitely wasn’t strong enough to stop me seeing her again. Those palpitations when I saw her in the car park were evidence enough of the hold my little brunette still had over me.

“You’re right” I said slowly “I should be wary...and I am. And you’ve been great...helping me when you have no reason to. But...”

“...but you can’t say no to her?” she finished for me.

I shook my head. 

“I..I...” I stuttered, not sure how to answer that.

“...love her?” Effy said.

“No...I mean...oh fuck I don’t know what I feel…?” I said miserably. Everything seemed so clear to me when I read that card...now I was doubting everything all over again. Those intense eyes pinned me with their forensic gaze.

Effy shrugged and seemed to make her mind up about something. Her posture didn’t change, but those eyes softened and the temperature in the room seemed too go up a few degrees. The interrogation was over for the time being.

“What is it the Chinese say Naomi...’when rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it’?” she said dryly “...I think whatever you’re telling yourself right now, she has a hold on you and nothing will be right until you do talk. But tell you what...lets enjoy the rest of the day here first? A trip down to the marina maybe? I have a friend with a motor cruiser on the Swan. I bet I could persuade him to take us out for a sail up the coast...maybe anchor out at sea for a bit, enjoy the sun, drink a few beers and forget everything here for a night. Tomorrow, you can jog over to the Y and see what your Emily Fitch has to say for herself?”

How could I say no to that? Something new to take my mind off Emily for a few hours. And with her ‘friend’ as company, maybe I could keep temptation out for the next few hours.

Effy spent a couple of minutes on the phone to her friend, then came back into the room nodding.

“Luke says that would be cool. He has his sister on board this afternoon, over from Fremantle for the day. We could all do with the break. I have a couple of bikini’s in my apartment” she looked me up and down sceptically “...it might be a bit tight...getting those gorgeous tits into one of mine…?” she looked down at her own smaller tits and smiled ruefully...”but what the hell...we can always go topless once we’re at sea. Luke is as camp as a row of tents anyway, so your virtue will be safe…?”

I stared at her as if she had two heads, but she was already leaving to get those swimsuits. Sunbathing topless wasn’t something I did as a rule, but it seemed churlish to say no. If all the women were the same and old Lukey is as queer as I am, where would be the harm?

XXX

Two hours later, I was standing on the deck of a pretty impressive 45 foot motor cruiser, watching the wooden dock slip away behind us. I don’t know what Luke did for a living...Effy had said something about finance...but whatever it was, it allowed him to buy a boat which must have cost $250,000 plus. Immaculate in white and blue fresh paint, with gold lettering on the stern identifying the cruiser as ‘Lucky Lucy’ it was very well appointed. While we were getting ready for sea, I’d got the grand tour from the proud owner. Luke was all floppy fair hair and dazzling teeth. Quite tall, over 6 feet I guessed and with mannerisms that confirmed Effy’s description. He was a bit...expressive, shall we say? Not quite Liberace, but definitely on the Elton John spectrum?

Anyway, after I’d cooed and hummed obligingly at the two king sized bedrooms and admired the luxurious lounge and brushed alloy galley, I gradually relaxed and let the enthusiasm of Luke for his boat wash over me. An afternoon and evening relaxing on a luxury cruiser with alcohol and good company, what could possibly go wrong?

Another two hours passed pleasantly enough. Sure enough, after I’d agreed to change down in the second bedroom, I found that the top of the borrowed bikini was way too small. In fact, wearing it would have looked worse than not. Looking at myself in the mirror with my back to Effy as she changed too, my tits looked huge, bulging out of the sides and top of those little black triangles of flimsy cotton. No...even though I was still doubtful, going topless was less embarrassing than cramming myself into a top at least two cup sizes too small.

When we got up on deck again, Effy of course opting to match me for lack of clothing...her small yellow bikini bottoms matching my own black ones, we found Luke lounging in the well of the rear deck on soft cushions with a beer in his hand. His sister Cressida was sitting opposite in a one piece suit. She was nothing like her brother. Short and slim, with a boyish bob to her brown hair. She’d been very quiet when I boarded with Effy, but now she was obviously being relaxed by what must have been her fourth generous gin and tonic. Effy winked at me as the siblings gave us a joint ironic wolf whistle. I suppose we didn’t look too bad. Neither of us were exactly tanned, but its hard to be too pasty in Australia, so I had no concerns about being seen half naked...at least now we were at sea and out of sight of curious tourists. I accepted the cold tin of lager Luke held out and sat beside Cressida, tipping the first sip of beer into to my mouth. The liberal amount of sun cream I’m applied before putting the bikini bottoms on would make sure I didn’t burn. For the first time since I woke up this morning, I truly relaxed.

XXX

Several hours later, I wasn’t quite so relaxed…in fact I was wound up like a clock spring. Humming, you could say…

The reason for my agitation was lying on the double bed in front of me. After an afternoon and evening drinking cold lager and talking crap, I’d relaxed completely. Luke and Cressida were the perfect hosts. We ate swordfish and fresh green salad for dinner, washed down with some delicious Premier Cru Chablis taken from the large chiller in the lounge. The bikini bottoms had been swapped for shorts and baggy tees now the sun had set. We were anchored about half a mile offshore, close enough to see the lights of Perth twinkling in the distance. 

Effy had been wonderful company too, recounting several hair raising episodes from her brothers...err...interesting past.

All in all, I was nicely mellow, drunk enough to be giggly but sober enough to know I wouldn’t suffer too badly in the morning. The plan was to wait till the sun was up, then pootle into the harbour and moor the boat just in time for Perth to be waking up.

All of which was still very much on. What wasn’t on was clothing...on Effy anyway. Well apart from a tiny pair of silk knickers. She’d showered first and I expected her to be in bed and getting sleepy by the time I emerged from the small en suite, nicely scrubbed and with the taste of minty fresh in my mouth. I worried a little about spending the night in this close a proximity to her smooth and lithe body, but as I wiped my mouth clean of toothpaste, I told myself to just be strong. I had an appointment with a certain beautiful brunette tomorrow, tonight was just about having innocent fun and a good nights sleep.

That rosy pipe dream lasted until I opened the door and stepped into the bedroom.

The lights had been dimmed until the cabin was lit with just the subtle amber glow from the downlights. The double bed was right in front of me...and so was a virtually naked Effy. Not just naked either. I could smell the faint aroma of her musky perfume in the enclosed space around us. But more startling than that...she was...well...umm, masturbating.

Slowly, carefully and with her eyes on mine as I walked in, her hand was inside the front of those tiny briefs. Moving…

I actually gasped as she looked straight at me, daring me to look away. As I gaped, her other hand...the one that wasn’t busy between her legs, reached up and cupped one small breast. I saw her lips part as the sensations both hands were no doubt giving her, made her whole body jerk in pleasure.

I opened my mouth to say something, but whatever it was stuck in my throat as she carried on touching herself.

“Come here Naomi” she said huskily. I swallowed hard. My foot actually started to move forward, as if her words were like some sort of tractor beam, reeling me in. Luckily for me, the word ‘Emily’ sprang into my mind, like some sort of antidote to her seduction. I swallowed again.

“Please Effy...don’t do this...I...I can’t” I whispered weakly.

“Tomorrow is another day honey” she breathed “...can’t you just give me tonight?”

Every nerve in my body was urging me to walk over to her...grab that hand from inside those sexy knickers and suck those busy fingers dry. My heart was racing as she continued to stroke herself, this time with her hips rolling slowly too.

“Can’t or won’t?” she asked, steadily increasing the pace of those knowing strokes. I could see her small nipples standing proud from the swell of her tits. Her chest was rising and falling faster as she began to breathe heavier.

“Oh. My. God” I whispered hoarsely as she lifted those slim hips and, in one fluid move, slipped the underwear off. Now I could see exactly what those long fingers were doing. Her eyes widened as I bit my bottom lip hard. It was taking all the weedy willpower I possessed not to growl and launch myself at her. I knew if I moved an inch from where I was standing, I was lost. One touch of those full lips, one contact with that incredibly sexy body and I would be helpless. I would be feasting on her like a starving woman. I already knew how sweet she tasted...God knows the other night I had gone at her again and again after that strap on had obliterated my inhibitions. She had the power to totally overwhelm me with sex. 

But I held on...like someone clutching a piece of flotsam in a churning sea. My stomach was rigid with the effort of holding myself back, The heat between my legs flared and pulsed as Effy continued to fuck herself right in front of my eyes. She tried again to entice me.

“Come on Naomi...I know you’re dying to touch...I’m so wet...look?”

She slid the finger that was circling her clit upwards and I could see the truth of her statement. I actually swayed as she waited for my response.

“Can’t” I said in a strangled voice. “...can’t”

“Pity” she smirked “I miss that gorgeous body under mine...you looked so beautiful when I fucked you with that dildo...all helpless moans and begging me to do it harder...faster?”

With that she slipped the finger into her mouth and did what I was dying to do. I could see her tongue moving inside her mouth as she savoured her own taste. I almost went mad.

Then she shrugged again and moved her hand back to where it was before. This time there was no attempt to prolong the act. This time her fingers moved in swift, practised movements. Her head went back and her mouth opened in a silent scream. I remembered that look from the other night. Her heels drummed on the duvet and her thighs jerked open, hips pumping upwards.

She came with my eyes devouring every movement, every sigh. It was glorious, sexy as hell and just about the most frustrating few seconds of my entire life.

Finally she subsided, sucking her fingers clean one by one, Her legs closed and at last she looked at me again. Her chest still moved rapidly as she recovered from what must have been a very, very satisfying experience. Then she raised herself up on her elbows and smirked at me.

“Well, that was...interesting, Naomi Campbell. You passed the test. It really IS love, isn’t it?...get a good nights sleep babe...tomorrow is another day after all”

Then she rolled over onto her side, pulled the summer duvet over her shoulders and closed her eyes.

I had to grip hold of the door frame to keep upright. What the actual fuck….

XXX


	18. Eighteen

Naomi

Dawn comes early out at sea, even a mile or less offshore. I’d not exactly had a restful night, curled up as far away as possible from the woman whose middle name should be temptation. She had the cheek to go to sleep with a minute or two of satisfying herself last night. Calm and regular breathing from the other side of the bed told me that. Still standing by the cabin door, I realised that I had been squeezing my fists so hard while she got herself off, that I’d left deep crescent shaped pink marks in my palms. The heat from between my legs competed with the swirling confusion in my head to totally disorientate me. And what the fuck did she mean by “passed the test” anyway?

It came to me in the end, of course. That sly smile before Effy turned over and closed her eyes. The test of whether I would break...give in to the sheer lust which was overwhelming me... while she teased herself so maddeningly a couple of feet away. Only she and I knew how close I came to giving in. Those “cant's” and “please Effy’s” were my only fragile defence against the erotic show I was watching. I’m a healthy, almost 20 year old lesbian. Faced with a stunning girl fingering herself inches away, its almost impossible to imagine not going over to her. The fact that I’d fucked that spectacular body several times recently just made it worse. I knew what that silky skin, those pert breasts, those fucking seductive lips felt like on mine. Worse, I knew exactly what that glistening evidence on her fingers tasted like too.

Like fucking nectar. Like something more addictive than crack.

But I’d resisted...just.

This morning I was just a tiny bit proud of myself in amongst all the self doubt, but even before Effy had slipped properly into unconsciousness last night, I’d staggered into the bathroom with wobbly knees, sitting heavily on the toilet seat and inelegantly replicating her busy fingers with my own. The fact that Emily’s name slipped from my lips when I came gave me no satisfaction at all. It still felt like a betrayal of sorts. But I decided afterwards, realising that I’d never done anything so deliberately provocative for anyone in my life...that I wanted to do that for Emily, and her for me. Who needs porno when you have your very own erotic show? I filed that away for future fun.

But here, now...as the boat gently bobbed on the faint swell of the Indian Ocean, I felt like I’d had a debauched night in a wild club, all drugs, alcohol and illicit sex. Hungover, but not on any of the above substances. No...I was topped up on residual endorphins, even though I didn’t actually give in and shag her. 

How could I blame Emily for sleeping with this Shreya girl when, even after I knew the facts, I’d still considered...no craved...dropping my own knickers and devouring the delicious treat Effy had laid out before me? I sighed heavily, laying on my back on that too comfortable bed. I needed another shower. Maybe I could wash a few more sins away.

She didn’t move beside me, but as I tensed to get up, a voice came from behind my head.

“I can hear you thinking from here Naomi. Stop it. You didn’t give in...even if you wanted to. That’s good enough for me, and it’ll be plenty good enough for Emily?”

I let out the breath I had been holding and turned my head. She was looking at me with that trademark smirk. Bitch.

“How could you even do something like that Effy” I asked plaintively “...it wasn’t fair...it isn’t….I...”

“Actually it was perfectly fair Naomi. I needed to know if you love Emily enough to resist me. Because otherwise honey...you’re fair game for another crack. I like you...maybe a bit more than I’m used to liking random pretty biker girls who come calling. I needed to know if I was wasting my time. Well.. I am. You’re so pussy whipped, you turned down a night you’d never have forgotten for just the chance of getting back with that cute little brunette. You owe me...so a little self pleasure while watching you suffer isn’t too much to ask...is it”

For a moment anger surged in me for her even knowing me as that malleable. She might have been playing with herself last night, but she’d been playing with me too. But the anger dissipated like the bubbles in a champagne glass as I replayed her words in my head. Instead I had to choke off a chuckle. Naomi Campbell, you’ve been landed like a fish.

“OK...OK” I conceded as those startling eyes held mine across the bed “Fun over now though Effy?...I don’t think my heart would survive a repeat performance..?”

She grinned cheekily and in one smooth move, sat upright and got to her feet. I stifled a gasp at her nonchalant nakedness. Everything about her was sexy, from head to toe. How the fuck had I resisted that. I thought again as her tits bounced perkily.

Being Effy, she read my thoughts effortlessly. And as her slim body disappeared into the bathroom, I heard a triumphant giggle. I huffed in annoyance and pulled the bed covers over my head. 

Bitch.

XXX

An hour later, as the sun started to heat the surface of the deck enough that we had to put on shoes, the Lucky Lucy slid backwards neatly alongside her berth in the marina. Luke and Cressida were already up when I finally emerged from the cabin and the glass of fresh orange juice and reheated croissant they passed me went down a treat. They’d been excellent hosts and even the not so subtle enquiries about how well their guests had ‘slept’ last night weren’t too uncomfortable to endure. I couldn’t really blame them for thinking I’d spent the night having glorious sex with Effy. After all, I’d actively considered it myself and if Luke knew Effy well enough to invite her out on the boat, I had no doubt he knew her well enough to understand she wouldn’t invite a female ‘friend’ of her own without having ulterior motives.

But to be fair, neither Luke or Cressida pressed the matter, much to my relief. Effy just raised a sly eyebrow at me and winked knowingly. 

Double bitch.

We disembarked after sharing hugs and promises to keep in touch. I knew when I mouthed my ritual platitudes that it was pretty unlikely I’d ever be back on board. Effy might have been generous enough to keep me company while I worked out what I was gonna do about Emily, but at heart she’s a cool sexual predator. Fresh opportunities were already arriving in Perth from all over Oz this fine morning. I had no doubt the next person who witnessed her writhing in pleasure on a bed wouldn’t be as reluctant as me to join in…

XXX

Across the city, someone else was waking up.

XXX

Emily

I was a bit groggy when my eyes opened, despite my good intentions to stay relatively sober last night. In truth I went to bed a bit disappointed. Not because I expected another call from Naomi...I knew her well enough to be satisfied with the earlier exchanges of texts. No, it was Shreya. I know the only reason I wanted to talk to her was to have ‘the talk’ but I’d kinda got used to having her...or at least someone...around. From the time I first sat on the pillion of Naomi’s bike back in Victoria, it seemed like there was always someone I could unload to when I needed it. Last night I was properly alone.

I tried her door a few times without success, right up till ten pm when I realised the 7/11 would be closing shortly. I’d drunk the first 6 pack of lager earlier, sitting by the window staring out at the inky darkness over the river. Wondering what Naomi was doing alone in that apartment with her unsettlingly pretty manager/mechanic. Effy’s face and body would tempt a saint, but even with my beer goggles on, I couldn’t make myself imagine Naomi giving her another go whilst messaging me that she wanted to meet up. Nothing I knew about her told me she was that shallow. No, I just had to get through the lonely night and make sure that this morning turned out better.

Which is of course when it all went to shit.

The second 6 pack I only got two tins into. Lager makes me repeat a lot, so I tipped half of the second can into the sink about 11 and gave up worrying for the night. Beer has another effect on me. It makes me sleep like a dead person, so I wasn’t exactly surprised to see 9.30 am on the screen when I checked my phone. Shit, I thought...what if Naomi...but she hadn’t. The message box was empty. Not even a short one from Shreya either, apologising for baling on me yesterday. That made me crinkle my brow in surprise. OK, she was supposed to be back last night, but zero messages even now?

I got up quicker than I should have and swayed slightly as the room righted itself. Dropping my tee and knickers on the carpet, I walked straight into the shower and hit myself with a few thousand well directed jets of very hot water. Five minutes of that, clean and gasping a bit at the watery assault, I towelled myself vigorously and emerged wrapped in terry cotton ready to face the day. Two paracetamol and a full glass of cold tap water and I was hunting for some clothes, knickers, a fresh top and my shorts. My flats were by the door, so hopping a bit, I put them on and picked up my room keys, then looked around for my passport and bank book. I usually put that sort of thing inside my case, but they weren’t there. Again I wrinkled my brow. Where had I put them last ni…

Oh yeah, yesterday while Shreya waited for me to shower, I put them on that little shelf under beside table top. I started to walk back towards my bed when there was a sharp tap on the door.

Suppressing an impatient sigh, I retraced my steps and went to the door. Probably Shreya at last, I thought...come to apologise for last night. It couldn’t be Naomi...way too early.

So when I opened the door it took me by complete surprise to see the Chinese guy who’d been on reception yesterday standing there. 

“Miss Fitch?” he said formally. His badge said Thomas, but I’m guessing his last name was a bit more exotic. I nodded.

“Yeah, thats me” I said

“Miss Emily Fitch?” he said in a monotone. Fucks sake, I thought, yes its Emily Fitch, in the room you would have checked I occupy before you even knocked. But I kept my thoughts to myself. No point, it didn’t look like humour was high on his personality check list.

Again I nodded.

“Yes, I’m Emily Fitch?” I said, trying to keep my voice light. Today was going to be a good day. Why spoil it right off the bat. I needn’t have worried, fate had a nice knobbly cucumber ready to insert painfully in my arse...it didn’t need any assistance from me.

“You need to be more careful with your personal effects, miss?” he said in that same level tone. I was starting to crack, being polite only goes so far?

“What the fuck are you on about Thomas?” I said, folding my arms across my chest “Personal effects…? All my belongings are here...in this room. I was just about to grab my passport and bank book before going out…?”

He shook his head almost sadly. I suppose in his job he’s used to dealing with arsey tourists.

“Not so, Miss Fitch” he said with what looked suspiciously like a half smile. Jesus, I thought, he has another whole expression, who knew?

“The cleaner was emptying the large bin in reception when unfortunately a gentleman collided with her as she pulled out the bag, spilling the contents al over the lobby?”

“How desperately unlucky for her, and the unfortunate bin...” I grated sarcastically “...but Thomas...what exactly does this newsworthy item have to do with me?”

I’d started to believe I’d be having this conversation for the rest of my life. Not good when I planned to be having a rather more interesting one with a certain stunning blonde...if I could only rid myself of this guy?

“These, uh...fell onto the floor? The passport is fine, but the bank book got smeared with what looks and smells like MacDonald's barbecue sau….”

I didn’t let him finish. He was holding out two objects I recognised all too well. It was my passport and bank book. What the fuck? I grabbed them both, wrinkling my nose as what he had accurately described as Maccy Dee’s sauce got on my fingers and up my nose. Yep, he was spot on.

“What the fuck?” I exclaimed loudly, inspecting them as if they’d explain themselves if I looked at them long enough. “...how did they get…?”

Then the pennies started to drop. Shreya...gone AWOL straight after we’d enjoyed a bit of morning sex. That abrupt departure. Her failure to answer my knocks or texts. AND she was definitely the last one to have access to my room. Yesterday, when I was showering…?”

The water and tablets in my stomach roiled as I stood there, looking stupidly at the documents. But…

“B...but...they’re fine...” I mumbled “...passport is intact...bank book...” I leafed through the pages of deposits and withdrawals. The balance still showed $4435.26, same as yesterday. Why the hell would anyone...or Shreya even, steal them and then just throw them in the bin? It didn’t make any sense. OK if someone wanted to steal some of my savings, they would need my passport, but withdrawals were subject to a $500 daily limit. Given that I would notice either of these missing after a day or so, what would be the point? I was stunned.

“Right...well, err thank you Thomas” I said slowly, forcing a grateful smile on my face “I have no idea why anyone would...uh, right... anyway, thanks again. It was really kind of you to return them to me?”

He nodded formally and turned on his heel. Again I caught the half smile.

I shut the door behind him and sat heavily on my unmade bed. What was happening. Then I got a flash of cold realisation. What if…

I almost dropped the Samsung in my haste to open the browser on it. I always preferred to use the branch system back home, putting cash away and only occasionally drawing it out personally. But now and then I’d used internet banking. This was my savings account but it was linked on line to my current account. Nervously I keyed in my account number, security code and password. Then I stopped...Fuck.

I remembered that I’d written the log in details somewhere I thought was safe..and separate from the bank book. Oh it was separate alright...and opening my passport, I probed inside its cute pink leather case, I reached into the little hidden credit card slot and….the slip of paper with my security details on it was...missing.

I really didn’t need to confirm it, but I had to know anyway.

Sure enough, one large bank transfer, effective immediately at 2pm yesterday to an account I’d never heard of in Sydney. 

My combined balance in both accounts now stood at a princely $5.26.

Cleaned out.

This time when my stomach lurched, I let it have its way. I just made it to the bathroom, retching again and again into the uncaring white bowl.

XXX

Naomi

I smiled happily as Effy and I reached the showroom again. Now her proximity was limited to walking next to me after we’d jumped out of the cab, I breathed a bit easier. She seemed to have accepted the fact that I wanted to make a go of it with Emily. In my mind she was now a pleasant memory, a welcome distraction but something maybe to think back on once Em and I were properly together again. She had her little ‘experiment’ with this Shreya girl to remember, I had Effy. Quite why that was an issue escaped me. 

Effy disappeared into the workshop while I waited outside. No point in giving the mechanics any more wank bank material. I’m sure they were used to Effy turning up with reasonably attractive waifs and strays, ready to comprehensively corrupt upstairs, but I didn’t see any up side for me to give them definite visual proof. As a gay girl, I’m used to sly looks and filthy remarks...men never seem to get over the fact that lesbians come in all shapes and sizes. Just because Effy and I veered towards the ‘lipstick’ end of the spectrum, didn’t mean we were any less gay. I don’t even own a pair of fucking dungarees or brogues and my eyebrows are resolutely unstriped.

I watched the busy morning traffic for the two minutes it took Effy to reappear, holding the keys and the my helmet. I was still definitely short of proper kit to ride in, but unlike yesterday, I wasn’t a blubbing mess either. Carefully does it and I could have the Harley parked up at the Y and safe within half an hour.

She surprised me by being unusually affectionate as I left. I thought that as my fanny was now off limits, she’d cut her losses and treat me like yesterdays news. But she didn’t.

“Listen biker girl...” she joked as I started the Harley and gripped the helmet straps. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I really like you. If this mythical Emily creature even hints that she’s not completely in love with you as well...the offer still stands? The apartment is still here. Go and see her, talk as much as you like. Your stuff will be upstairs and safe for the time being. Collect it when you like...or come back and pick up second prize, your choice?”

I was genuinely touched. Touched enough not to protest when she took my hands, which were still fiddling with the helmet straps and leaned in towards me. The kiss wasn’t wildly passionate, but as always with her, a little went a long way. Her lips were soft and yeilding. It certainly didn’t feel like the sort of kiss that old friends share. More a ‘don’t burn your bridges Naomi..I’d still like to give you another private show’

The twinge between my legs told me she knew exactly what effect that little gesture was intended to convey. My slightly stunned expression when she pulled away probably filled in any blanks.

But seconds later I was pulling carefully into the Perth traffic. A trucker gave way for me to spin the Harley in the road and head back towards town. I returned his cheerful thumbs up after the big machine was straight and upright again. Once motoring, it took me no more than ten minutes to cross the river and nose the burbling bike towards the Y.

XXX

Emily

Stunned. Seems like a suitable metaphor for my whole life. All those dreams of getting away from the stifling expectations of my family. The exhilaration of being carried away on that huge bike. The sex...the incredible emotional connection with my beautiful saviour. All for nothing.

Because now I had nothing. No money and my self respect meter was on zero. A burden again to anyone unfortunate enough to take me on. Shreya had seen me for what I am. A mark. No point in me checking her room, or scouring the Y for her or Josh. The ‘appointment’ in Fremantle was certainly a lie. By this time they would be long gone. While I was swilling Swan and dreaming of this morning, they were counting my cash and probably setting up the next idiot. I’d been played, simple as.

The sex was her bait. She might have enjoyed it at the time as much as I did, but all along she was calculating how long she had to put up with it before getting my money.

And now I had to face Naomi. 

She was almost certainly on her way right now, convinced that I was worth another try. But I’m not, am I?

A burden.

On the off chance that she still wanted to be with me, what use would I be to her? No money, no job and even less chance of staying in Perth longer than the couple of days grace I had in this apartment. I was a bit surprised looking back, that the stolid Thomas hadn’t announced my imminent eviction from this room. Everything else Shreya had told me was a lie, it wouldn’t be much of a leap to expect worse.

But even if I had another couple of days, what then?

Bumming off your on off girlfriend is hardly a recipe for success is it? Naomi, being Naomi, would probably grin and bear it. But I’d be right back in that motel room, dependent on her for everything and hating it. So much for striking out on my own and starting a new life. My prospects were as bleak as they had been when I’d been fending off clumsy farm boys in rusty pick ups.

I didn’t even cry...I didn’t deserve to feel sorry for myself. I got up, like I was on auto pilot and made the toughest decision of my life. Naomi deserved better. Better than me.

I packed my things and sat for a few moments, writing a note for my brave blonde biker chick. She’d be upset, but there was always that Effy girl. Give it a week and Naomi would start to forget me. I folded the note inside the last envelope I owned and put her name on the front. A fat tear escaped my eyes, despite my determination not to start sobbing. It pooled on the envelope, diluting the ink I’d just used writing her name. I rubbed it, but then it just smeared.

Taking a long shuddering breath, I got up again, shouldered the bag and walked slowly out of the room, down the emergency stairs and into the crowded lobby. Thomas was back on duty, dealing with a succession of excited backpackers. I waited silently in line until I got to the front of the queue. He looked up as I reached him and gave me a professional smile.

“Checking out Thomas” I said, my voice hoarse with misery “...no point in staying any longer. Can you give me directions to the highway east?”

His brow crinkled in puzzlement.

“The highway miss...you mean the Eyre Highway?”

For a second I almost attempted a sarcastic comment, but my heart wasn’t in it.

“Yes, the Eyre Highway Thomas...unless you know any other way someone with $5 to their name can travel a thousand miles home? Looks like I’ll be hitching it with the joey's for the time being?”

Despite the impatient people in the queue behind me, Thomas surprised me by turning to the other receptionist beside him and saying something in rapid Chinese. She shook her head vigorously and indicated the lengthening queue. But he was adamant. Stepping away from the desk, he pulled at my elbow and ushered me into a small office behind him.

I stood in front of him as he shook his head at me sadly.

“No good, hitch hiking. Very dangerous Miss Fitch” he said solemnly “Young girl, lots of rough truckers. Very bad”

I sighed. This was not what I needed. Why couldn’t he just let me go? If I got raped and murdered out there, well it was just karma, wasn’t it? Naomi had tried to save me from that fate...maybe it was just a delayed event?

He sighed too. Seemed like we were in a sighing competition. I had no energy in my limbs. All I could think of was getting back home. Yeah, that home. Away from the dreams, the joy and the madness of this city. Perhaps Katie and my mother were right...maybe I was always destined to end up pregnant and sweeping floors?

“You wait there...I have a plan” he said eventually.

A plan, I thought? Short of a winning lottery ticket, there seemed to be a shortage of viable options at the moment.

XXX

Naomi

I parked the bike up out back in more or less the same position as I had what seemed years ago. So much had happened, it felt unreal. Slipping off the already stifling helmet, I wiped my face with a handkerchief. Sweaty faces aren’t exactly my favourite, specially as in a few minutes I could be seeing...even kissing Emily Fitch. The thought of that made my heart thump and galvanised me into getting off and pocketing the keys. I strode purposefully into the Y. I knew Emilys room number (I tried not to remember why) so I could go straight up. Pulling out my phone, I thumbed her a quick text to say I was here. Nothing soppy, just the fact.

But I was here...and so was she. That’s got to be good, yeah?

XXX


	19. Nineteen

Emily

Thomas was only away from the office a minute or two. I did seriously consider leaving my note for Naomi on the scuffed Formica desk and jogging on. After all, what could this guy do? Maybe if he could put me in a time capsule and take me back 24 hours, great...no, fuck that, he could take me right back to the minute Naomi and I escaped that shitty little motel with its predatory occupants. Knowing what I know now, I’d mentally slap myself around the head a few times, get to safety with my blonde lover, then give her the best thank you in human history. She already knows I never say no to new things, which isn’t surprising after my 18 year sex drought. But I have a whole cornucopia of deviancy in my head I haven’t tried yet. They say you should experience everything but buggery and Morris dancing...well, I never was much good round a maypole, but in the right company and sufficient lubrication, I might waver on the other option…possibly.

I was dragged out of my escapist reverie by the door opening again. This time Thomas had someone with him. A girl, maybe my age or a year or two older. Tall and slim with neat blonde plaits and cornflower blue eyes. Not Naomi blue you understand? Nothing like as vibrant and intense. But they were pleasant enough eyes nevertheless. On another day, maybe in another life, I might have given her the newly awakened Fitch once over. Nice tits, my brain sniggered anyway, but I forced the thought away. I was hardly in the mood for flirting, and anyway...this was no time to bring a baby into the world.

I realised I’d been staring at her too long and coughed nervously as the two of them stared at me strangely. Way to go Emily, I cursed myself...look even more of a dumb idiot, why don’t you?

Luckily, Thomas started talking.

“This is Maja...she’s from Sweden?” he said seriously. No shit, I thought. If she’d started repeating “hurdy gurdy” in a Nordic accent it couldn’t have been much more obvious.

I sighed again. None of this was getting me out of here. Naomi would be here soon and when she did, I wanted to be long gone. My heart was already breaking at the thought of leaving her for ever. I knew if I saw her again, all my courage would desert me. I’d fall into her arms and sob for an hour straight. Feeling a stupid fool is one thing, but the explanation I had carefully written in my goodbye note was as good as it got. Face to face I’d turn into weepy blubber and that I couldn’t put on her. She’d feel pity and I don’t want a lover who pities me. No...a clean break. Lots of pain and anguish for both of us at first, but then she’d be free to follow her dream without any more useless luggage aboard.

“Hi” the girl...Maja? said cheerfully, only slightly getting less so as I carried on staring at her sullenly. Her face was pink, open and friendly and I knew I was being a bit arsey, but do you blame me? My world had gone to shit in 12 hours. Fate and that cucumber huh?

I forced a smile onto my face nevertheless and held out my hand. She shook it warmly.

“Maja and her boyfriend Lars are checking out this morning too”. Thomas said “They’re on the way to Kalgoorlie and then maybe east for a bit further. I explained that you’ve had a small...uh... problem during your stay here Emily” he said quietly.

Great I thought, another couple of complete strangers to feel sorry for the dumb little dyke. Screwed, then screwed out of her life savings. I know I should have been grateful...Thomas could have just done his inscrutable thing and left me to my own devices when I checked out. I suppose the least I could do was be humble about it all?

So I forced a warmer smile onto my face and made like happy.

“So...if you want a lift a few hundred miles east...that should get you to a proper town. Oh and...” he dug in his pocket and pulled out a bundle of small denomination notes. I shook my head and backed away, waving at him.

“N..no Thomas...you’ve done quite enough. More than enough. I couldn’t possibly...”

But he followed me until I was backed up against the desk. 

“This girl..this Shreya? I think now it was maybe her who did the same thing to another girl a few weeks ago. She was Mexican and had very little English, so she didn’t want to go to the authorities, something about her immigration status. I understand that...very embarrassing. But the staff here have a little fund for people who get into trouble? Not much, but enough to get you some food on the way and maybe a bus ticket later?”

I thought I felt like shit this morning. But the random kindness of this guy I hardly knew was the final straw. I might not be able to collapse into Naomi’s arms, but Thomas didn’t get the option of saying no.

If Maja hadn’t intervened, I might still be there now. All the tears I’d held back from this morning fell like rain. He awkwardly rubbed my back as I wailed. But the girl rescued him and me from any further embarrassment. She pulled me away from Thomas and let me soak her shirt instead.

“I’m such a fool...so fucking stupid...” I choked, while Maja rubbed my shoulders with a bit more feeling than Thomas could muster. She shushed a lot and squeezed me from time to time. It was vaguely comforting.

Eventually, I stopped. It must have been several minutes and I was totally embarrassed at the large damp spot on this total strangers blue denim top, but she waved away my apologies.

“No matter” she said brightly “...life is hard sometimes...we cry...then its better...but we need to go now? Lars is bringing the van round front”

The van turned out to be one of those ubiquitous VW camper vans we Australians are famous for nipping round Europe in. Complete with expanding cantilever roof and lurid hand painted blue and yellow Swedish flag bodywork. We left Thomas in the office. Me still trying to give him the bundle of notes back unsuccessfully. I didn’t check it until we were several miles away, but I shed another couple of tears when I counted over $120 dollars in my hand. 

‘Agnetha’ as the van was named, according to the scrawling daub on the bonnet (apparently Lars had been a big fan of Abba growing up in Malmo, so he named his transport after the prettier blonde one). Maja made me smile through my tears as she leaned over the front seat and made a disgusted face as he was telling me.

“She’s a grandmother Lars...Lord, thats...thats just wrong? she giggled infectiously.

Lars shouted something over the air cooled engine about her not being a grandmother at all when he had her poster on his bedroom wall as a boy, but she still found his fascination with a 60+ year old pop star hysterical. It lightened the mood for a few seconds, but I was soon back to staring bleakly out of the back window of the van, watching the tall buildings of Perth gradually shrink into the distance.

XXX

Naomi

“What the fuck do you mean, checked out?” I raged. The girl on reception shrugged indifferently as I paced about in front of the desk, shaking my head in disbelief. I’d knocked for ages at the fourth floor door without an answer, but eventually wondered if maybe Emily had come down to meet me in the lobby.

The impassive Asian girl tapped on the keyboard again, then looked up at me with that ‘computer says no’ face that I’ve learned to hate viscerally

“Checked out this morning...no forwarding address I’m afraid. Sorry?”

She didn’t look the least bit sorry and I was seriously considering hauling her bony arse over the desk and ramming that smug smile into her keyboard, but I resisted….just.

Luckily for me...and her probably... the Chinese guy I’d spoken to before today, came over and tapped me on the arm.

“Its...uh, Naomi...Miss Campbell, yes?” he said politely.

I growled assent as he held out a small envelope.

“Emily Fitch has checked out, but she asked me to give you this if you asked about her?”

I stared at the envelope suspiciously which had my name in blue ink, somewhat water diluted on the front. What the fuck…?

I scrabbled to open it, then scanned the small note inside. ‘What the fuck’ was a phrase which echoed several more times in my head as I absorbed what it said. By the time I looked up again, confusion all over my face I have no doubt, this Thomas guy was waiting patiently.

“She has left Miss Campbell...but I know maybe where she is heading?”

A semi hysterical laugh left my mouth before I could stop it. I felt like I was in one of those awful Whitehall farces the Poms used to love so much. At every turn another fucking improbable twist.

“Well?” I said, less than graciously “...time is a wasting Thomas?”

“Oh...yes...right. Uh...Emily has got a lift with Lars and Maja...two guests from Sweden who were staying here until...”

This time my growl was almost feral. Thomas’s eyes widened as he realised I was like a spring about to burst.

“Bright blue and yellow Volkswagen camper van. Left ten, fifteen minutes ago. They said they were headed East...towards Kalgoorlie...on the Eyre?”

I smiled at him...not a very warm smile, for which I’m a bit sorry now. But like I said...time was a wasting. I had to get back on the Harley, make a small diversion over the Swan to pick up my remaining stuff and leathers from Effy’s place, then burn some serious rubber on the Eyre Highway. Time for the big v twin to earn her keep….

XXX

Emily

We didn’t plan on stopping until Norseman, way out on the plain, but an old VW is a wheezy beast. Asthmatic even. Air cooled engines are much noisier than water or oil cooled ones, like the Harley Road King Naomi owned. I remember her childish pleasure at explaining the differences in excruciating detail on one of the stops coming the other way down this bleak but grandiose highway. Something about efficiency and quieter running. To be honest, all I wanted to do was kiss that pretty mouth as she warbled on about heat coefficients and rubber mountings. Just watching her so animated made my heart leap and other more... intimate... areas throb. I seem to remember ending her Harley advertisement by slowly unbuttoning my top and popping the front fastener of my bra. Her eyes glazed over and her tongue kept flicking over her soft lips.

I’d smiled cheekily and gave her my best innocent face.

“No...go on Naoms...all that talk about...uh, lubrication is sooo fascinating?”

Her ‘ice on fire’ eyes flashed at my obvious piss taking, but as I pulled the material of my top aside and let the scanty bra fall away from my modest tits, she swallowed hard and began to chew her bottom lip. That unconscious gesture almost broke me. Jesus, she was so fucking sexy when her body overruled her mind I decided. I could feel my nipples hardening under her intense stare. So I shrugged the shirt off my shoulders and smirked.

“...or you could use that clever tongue...to do more...much more interesting things...I’m in serious need of that lubrication…?”

The low growl that produced sent shock waves through me. I reached for my jeans, meaning to start unbuttoning my 501’s but her hand came up and stopped me.

“No...” she said hoarsely “...mine?”

Mine indeed. I seem to recall spending the next fifteen minutes letting her do exactly what she wanted to do with that nimble tongue.

“Emily...Emily...are you OK?” I heard faintly. The pleasant fog of fantasy cleared slowly, to reveal a worried looking Maja, looking over at me from the front seat.

I coughed in embarrassment. Nice one Emily...fantasising about the girl you’ll never see again. Why not just ask them to park up so you can rub one out...really make the most of the dream?

Maja smiled again as I tried to put on my game face. 

“We’re stopping at the next rest stop. Lars is worried the van will overheat too much. We should still be OK to get to Norseman tomorrow, but best to start slow and build up?”

Realistically, I was completely in their hands anyway. A free lift was more than I deserved in the first place. They didn’t say too much while we were moving, another consequence of the noisy van for which I was quite grateful. I kept imagining Naomi’s shocked and upset face when she got that note. I bet she bounced into the Y this morning, expecting me to be waiting for her. But yet again, Emily has to fuck things up. As the van slowed, approaching a windswept, sun bleached fuel station cum diner, my recent pleasant reverie forgotten, I resumed my unhappy expression. I suppose at least I had a few dollars on me. Bad enough I was bumming a ride with complete strangers, this way I could pay my own way food wise.

Not that I had much appetite. I settled for a bottle of still mineral water, chilled from the glass fronted fridge and a fruit bar. The confectionery had a sell by date only a few weeks away, but I chewed without tasting it anyway. Lars and Maja went for the full strength cholesterol breakfast, reminding me again about those shared lengthy mornings with Naomi on the way to Perth. All those sunny days, refreshed from sleep, but still tingling from a wake up call one or the other of us would always initiate. The weather was just as bright today, but my mood was as dark as a mid winter morning in gloomy Victoria.

We stopped for almost an hour, which was enough time for me to start casting worried glances back down the strip of black tarmac behind us. What if Naomi comes after me? The thought exhilarated and terrified me in equal measure. 

XXX

Naomi

I kept rereading that note in my mind as the Harley began to eat up the miles aggressively. Effy had been wonderful (again) about things. Her only comments were supportive. Well mostly.

“Silly bitch” was the first one, which I bridled at. Emily had been rooked by a good looking con women. It happens. Being on the rebound makes you vulnerable. I should know?

Her second was better.

“She’s running Naomi...but I suspect not too hard. She feels foolish and worthless right now. Find her and tell her this...”

I waited for the punch line.

“Tell her that she’s always been so worried about you saving her. When its really the other way round, isn’t it?”

My mouth gaped as she regarded me calmly. Of course…

“Yes!...” I said, only slightly hysterically “she does...every fucking day I’m with her. She saves me from...”

“Naomi Campbell?” Effy grinned and I wanted to slap her almost as much as I wanted to hug her.

Dressed in full leathers and with the helmet closed, it would have been hard for anyone I passed to know what sex I am. Its a useful disguise, handy in all sorts of situations. Bad enough when you pull over, take off the helmet and a mane of bleach blonde hair tumbles to your shoulders. I’ve suffered enough innuendo and downright coarseness at pit stops to be wary. But out here? With a full tank, neatly packed panniers and the bike in tip top condition after Effy’s expert service (stop that...I know what you’re thinking about Effy’s version of ‘servicing’), it was exhilarating to be on the open road again. If it wasn’t for the deep and painful worry about whether I’d ever catch up with my ex, I would actually be quite happy.

Staying in Perth had been entertaining...in more ways than one. But my mission now was simple in the extreme. Find Emily, persuade her that we had to be together and ride off into the distance. Simple, but devastatingly uncertain.

Effy had even refused to take the $150 I owed her for the bike service. She shook her head when I held out three crisp $50 notes.

“Nope...your money is no good here Naomi Campbell” she said firmly. “Save it for the road. I’m sure it’ll come in useful for a comfy bed in a hotel, instead of those cheap roadhouses I bet you’re used to. When you get your girl, spoil her a bit”

My eyes filled up at just how noble she was being. I’m not sure I could ever be like that myself.

“You’ve been...uh...” stumbled, looking for words that didn’t make me look as stupid as I felt.

“Awesome...sexy, irresistible...charming...all of the above…?” she sniggered annoyingly. But how could I possibly be offended? She was all of the above and more. I might be in love with Emily Fitch, but till the day I die, I will remember just how amazing this girl is, in and out of bed.

“Yeah...” I said , pretending to be grudging. “So how come I’m still leaving you behind then Effy?”

There was a moment so fleeting I could have been mistaken, but I don’t think I was, where something approaching regret flashed across those sea blue eyes, then it was back to the knowing stare. But I owed her so much, the hug I gave her was genuine and affectionate. She let me do it then pulled back slightly, looking straight into my eyes.

“Hugs are nice...but I think I’m owed a bit more?” she whispered. I shuddered. Her body was still tight against mine and those lips were still very tempting.

“Like what Effy?” I said slowly “...might not be exactly the right time for a grateful quickie against the wall?”

If I was hoping the joky aside would disarm her, I should have known better. She gripped my neck gently with one hand and stroked my cheek with the other. I shivered again.

“Then I’ll have to settle for this Naomi...and afterwards you can go and get your girl. But know this...if it doesn’t work out, or she’s daft enough to turn you down? This is a down payment on what'll be waiting here for you”

‘This’ turned out to be a kiss. Not a friendly kiss, not the sort of kiss you give a departing ex lover. No, this was a full strength, full power Effy Stonem passionate clinch. I hesitated for a millisecond as her lips covered mine, but even though I might have resisted her little bit of exhibitionism on the boat, the direct contact between her mouth and mine was truly irresistible. I don’t know how long it lasted...its entirely possible the sun rose and set twice while we snogged, but I do know that every nerve, every fibre of me vibrated like a tuning fork when she finally pulled back. 

“Now fuck off...before I regret being so noble” she said in a voice strangely husky, quite unlike her normal confident tone. She turned away abruptly and walked quickly into the building. I was left with a tingle on my lips and a radiating heat beneath my tight leathers.

XXX

Emily

After the meal stop and a top up of fuel, the VW had cooled down enough to get back on the road. There was traffic out here, several roaring road trains with double and even treble trailers blasting along the blackened tarmac. Sometimes a VW camper or two going the other way. Each time that happened, Lars would wave dorkily at the other vehicle, getting the same excited response from them. It was like being in a club I hadn’t asked to join, with no idea of the rules, but his innocent enthusiasm was infectious. Maja joshed him cheerfully and rubbed his shoulders a bit every time, I got a pang of pure loneliness at that simple show of affection. I’d had that once, but I swapped it for some strange idea of independence and a brief fling with a cheating Mata Hari who separated me from my meagre savings without a blush. Now I was on my way back to Victoria. To the knowing smirks of my sister and the inevitable maternal post mortem. I could just hear my mother now.

“Well” she’d say smugly “...at least you’ve got that nonsense out of your system now Emily Jane Fitch...I’ve had a word with Malcolm at the mini mart...you can start back Monday. You’ll need to work very hard to replace your savings after that...that...motorcyclist woman…led you into so much unnatural behaviour. Why can’t you be more like Katie...she’s dating that nice..”

I stopped imagining my bleak homecoming then. Too fucking painful by half. 

Staring out of the rear window in my continuing misery, I failed at first to notice the small black dot on the horizon. We’d just crested one of the very few undulations in the plain, just a minor hill really, but as I looked backwards without really taking in what I was seeing, we bottomed out at the beginning of a long open straight. Then, shockingly I saw it properly. It was definitely a motorcycle. Black, with the rider all in black too. My heart leapt with joy before crashing back down. Even if it was her...a million to one shot… what had changed since I left Perth? I was still broke. Still heading home to my dreary old life? Still a sad loser.

The dot grew bigger and my heart rate increased every minute it approached. The VW was doing a steady and noisy 55mph. The bike was obviously travelling way faster. It couldn’t be….could it?

XXX

Naomi

I crested the next rise and gave the throttle a serious blip as I started downhill. The Harley was purring like a big cat with a bowl of double cream. Let off the leash with me ignoring the state speed limit completely, the wind was whipping against my helmet. 70, 80, 90 mph...I let the engine properly clear its throat. There was always the chance of a State Trooper speed gunning me at this velocity, but I was losing patience. No sign of the yellow and blue VW I was looking for. There had been a couple coming the other way, but they passed in a rattly whoosh, their weedy air cooled engines labouring in the arid air. The Harley was built for this type of travel. Fast and straight, so I eased deeper into the thickly padded seat as the momentum increased. A small sliver of doubt had started to enter my mind as the road stretched empty in front of me. Surely that cheap van hadn’t travelled this far already? I began to wonder if Emily’s lift had maybe decided on a sightseeing diversion. Not that there was much in the way of options on this road. Norseman was a way ahead and Kalgoorlie a bit further still, but the highway offered little to look at apart from scrub, kangaroos and dust until then. I tweaked the throttle a bit more...95mph appeared on the dial and I concentrated on looking out for stray wildlife and parked up Troopers. Falling off or getting stopped would both be a disaster. Obviously the former was worse, but any delay was going to piss me off big time.

And then I saw it. Faint grey smoke curling from its thin exhaust, about a mile in front of me. Weaving slightly too, as if the driver was distracted by something. Unmistakeable paint job too. Bright blue with a thick yellow line across and lengthways over the body. The Swedish flag no less. My heart thumped in my chest even as I relaxed the throttle, no point in hammering past at 90 plus when the van was probably doing less than 60. If the driver was distracted by something inside the vehicle, a Harley blasting past a foot away from his side window would scare the shit out of him/her.

I got closer, staring intently at the flat back of the van, I could see movement inside through the rear window. I was almost matching their speed now, just inching closer. Then I saw her. Her eyes...wide and surprised. Unmistakeable eyes, brown and soft. Staring at me as if I was the monster from Jeepers Creepers for Christ's sake. I was close enough then for her to see me too. I got about five feet from the rear window and flipped up the front of my modular helmet. The Harley was close enough to be slipstreaming the van. It was almost calm tucked in behind it. Once the visor front was up, our eyes locked. 

XXX

Emily

“Faster Lars” I said, then realised what a dumb request that was. He’d been distracted enough when I’d suddenly shot out of my bench seat and yelled in his ear once I was convinced the rider behind us was Naomi. I felt the van swerve as he jumped in his seat and Maja clung to the dashboard with both hands as we wobbled a bit more. Luckily there were no other cars or lorries about. Lars cursed in what I presume was Swedish before straightening the VW and looking anxiously in the rear view mirror.

“What is it Emily” he yelled over the engine noise “...you almost caused an accident there?”

Maja gave me an anxious look too. I’m guessing they were both wondering if they’d been a bit too generous, offering a complete stranger a lift across the Nullabor. Not that I blame them. They might have got the potted version of my sad recent history from Thomas, but I’d already soaked her shirt with my tears back at the Y and now, after sitting in miserable silence for a hundred miles, I’d suddenly started shouting frenzied driving instructions. I think they’d earned those quizzical looks?

“Sorry” I said pointlessly “...its just, I think that...person behind us is someone I don’t really want to meet again?”

For a completely untrue statement, that one took some beating, but I wasn’t exactly thinking straight. Specially as I’d just asked Lars to try to outrun a powerful Harley Davidson in this asthmatic pile of German tin. We’d be lucky to get Naomi’s bike out of third gear, let alone outpace her. But I was panicking, right? The girl behind us held the key to my future, but as I’d told myself a hundred times this morning already, I really didn’t deserve her.

They exchanged another puzzled glance. The sort of look you give each other when an elderly relative rambles on about something from 50 years ago in the middle of an entirely unconnected conversation. I swallowed hard, looking back to see Naomi, helmet visor raised, just looking into the van with those laser beam eyes. At once my shoulders slumped. There was little point pretending I had any choice in the matter...the note I’d left her hadn’t worked. I tried hard to stop my heart soaring at the knowledge that she’d dropped everything, including the fragrant Effy and got on her bike to follow me east. If only it was that easy. I ached with desire to fall into her arms and let her take care of me. 

But its not as simple as that, is it. Just loving someone. At least I don’t think so.

But, as a long sigh left my lips, eyes still staring at her figure behind us, I knew I had to face it...her.

I turned again to Lars and indicated that he should pull over. Naomi was using her indicators to ask us to stop and he was watching her carefully through the side mirrors. He nodded and slowly the VW veered left across the tarmac and pulled up in a cloud of red dust, the engine ticking as he turned it of. Naomi had obviously shut the Harley down too, because it was suddenly, shockingly silent. I gritted my teeth, summoned up the little courage I had left and slid the squeaky side door open. My problem, I thought grimly...up to me to solve it. If I could only be as brave as her, maybe I could convince her that I’m a lost cause?

XXX

Naomi

When the VW indicated left and slowed to a crawl, my heart thumped crazily. Whatever happens now I thought, at least it will be face to face. The note had made me fill up. Couched in straightforward words, it spoke of someone out of luck, out of hope and full of self loathing. On the ride out, I’d spent the time when I wasn’t looking out for stray Joey’s, dingos and cops, going over it again and again in my head. I knew one wrong word from me and Emily would sink further into the pit of despair she inhabited. Guilty because she’d shagged a random, but angry with herself or being so easily fooled. And mistrustful of my motives. Not because she doesn’t know I love her. But because she doesn’t want me to be a ready made substitute for her domineering sister and mother. It must have taken tremendous courage to throw all the things you know away for an attractive stranger (me that is, not the manipulative Shreya). As far as Emily is concerned, I might just be following her out of pity for the mess her life has become. So scotching that myth would be task number one.

I took off my helmet, shaking my hair loose as I sat the dome on the tank. There is every truth in the rumour that I knew exactly the effect that normally had on the demure Ms Fitch. She’d told me many times on the road to Perth (usually as we lay in a post coital daze after some incredible sex) that simple gesture had been her abiding memory of me since the night I picked her up on that back road in Victoria. Shameless of me I know, but alls fair and all that…?

XXX

Emily

I got out like a woman facing imminent execution. Give them their due, Maja and Lars were suitably Scandinavian and kept neutral expressions as I apologised for making them park by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Just a coordinated nod and then I was out in the hot sun,

Naomi did that thing with her hair and helmet and I froze for a second. Jesus, the things that does to me? Shaking her hair like that scene in Shawshank Redemption, when Rita Hayward wows the prisoners with a grand gesture. Except this is 2017 not 1940. Suddenly the air felt charged around us. A large truck surged past as we stood there looking at each other, the inevitable air horn signifying the drivers interest at two ‘sheila’s’ facing off by the side of the road. Fuck him, I thought briefly...you’ll have to be content with your right hand and a laptop tonight...no lesbian matinee here today.

Once the sound of the truck faded, it was silent again apart from a keen screech from the bush. Some poor small furry creature meeting its end in the jaws of a slightly larger one. I shuddered...was that a metaphor for my fate?

But Naomi shocked me by just smiling benignly at me as she sat there with the helmet in her lap.

“Fuck... you still look great Emily Fitch...even with the runny makeup and sad face?”

I know it was an attempt to lighten the charged atmosphere, but I felt my eyes filling with fresh tears all the same. Complimenting me however clumsily, reminded me of just what a fuck up I’d become. 

Her face changed from faint amusement to horror as she realised I was crying. The helmet was rammed onto the handlebars and then she was instantly in front of me. Her arms opened and even though I knew it wouldn’t solve anything...this hug from the person I adore...I hadn’t got the strength to resist. I fell into her arms and sobbed some more. Unlike Maja, her murmured comfort and strong arms felt sincere. It was so easy to relax into them, feel my body mould against hers and forget even for a few seconds, that the world had turned to shit recently.

But eventually, of course, I had to surface. She pulled back slightly and ran her fingers over my face, brushing aside my hair.

“Oh Emily Fitch” she smiled sweetly “...how did you ever think you could escape me...you’re stuck with me now...didn’t you realise that?”

I shook my head, eyes still brimming.

“No..” I said shakily “...this isn’t right...I can’t...you deserve better...someone who doesn’t need saving from their own stupidity over and over again. Do yourself a favour Naomi...get back on your bike and leave me...I don’t deserve...”

Her face changed from gentle concern to something like anger. Those intense eyes flashed fire at me.

“Haven’t you realised yet Em” she said, mouth in a thin line “...this isn’t about you needing help...its about ME needing it?”

“W...what?” I said hoarsely “...why do you need help...its me who keeps getting it wrong?”

“Because I can’t do this without you now...any of it. None of it is any fun without you here. The road, the stops, the pubs...nothing works when I don’t see that smile when I wake up...that hungry little face across the breakfast table...the look in your eyes when I kiss you goodnight. Its me who needs you Emily Fitch..and that’s been true since the day I woke up beside you for the first time. I love you...so fucking much Emily...its me who’s the fool for not telling you that sooner?”

I felt like I was drifting on something unstable. None of what I expected her to say came out of her mouth. 

“B...but the money..Shreya...your plans…?” I floundered. None of this was remotely what I expected when I got out of the camper.

Naomi shook her head dismissively.

“Fuck the money...we’ll earn some more. Fuck Shreya...she’ll get caught eventually. Luck runs out. She’ll be serving time in Cell Block H by the time we get to Sydney?”

“S...Sydney?” I gasped...but that’s...”

“About 2000 miles that way” Naomi grinned, still holding onto my hands “...and there’s Adelaide and Melbourne first. We’ve seen Perth babe...who said anything about stopping yet?

Then she picked me up and kissed me hard on the lips. A kiss that dissolved all my fears and misery. I faintly heard Maja and Lars clapping in the background. But did I care?...Not a fucking chance.

Naomi still wanted me. I’d been a fool. But it looked like we were going to be fools together from now on…


End file.
